Writer-director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson couldn't bring Sarah Michelle Gellar's Helen Shivers back to life for this sequel. In a conversation with Entertainment Weekly, Robinson said she "tried relentlessly" to fit Gellar into the new "I Know What You Did Last Summer." Her efforts were for naught because Robinson could not maneuver around the fact that Helen Shivers is dead. "I tried, okay? I harassed her! But she is dead," Robinson said. "I tried to pitch some crazy shit too. I was like, 'What if it's like you weren't dead and you're actually alive, but in hiding?' And Sarah's like, 'I was on ice. I was the most dead a person could be. You can see my frozen body.' I was like, 'Yeah, but what if?' And she said, 'I am dead. I am Sarah Dead Gellar.'"
When Jennifer Love Hewitt learned a new "I Know What You Did Last Summer" movie was in the works, her first reaction was "immediate fear and panic that I might have to be in it." before filming began, Hewitt was a nervous wreck. "Coming back at 46 is really daunting in Hollywood, for lots of reasons," she says. "You don't want people to be like, 'Oh, she looks different,' or 'She's aged.' You don't want any of that." But Hewitt also felt "deeply grateful that I was not forgotten" when she returned to the role for the first time in almost 30 years. The actress's nerves were eased, and she "fully started crying" when the extras in her first scene welcomed her back with a round of applause. "It meant so much to me," she says. "I felt like, 'Oh, I'm supported, and I should be here.' "
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson confirmed the movie would not ignore the events of Eu Ainda Sei o que Vocês Fizeram no Verão Passado (1998).
(13 December 2024) Jennifer Love Hewitt officially announced she would be returning as Julie James in the new sequel.
(23 September 2024) Freddie Prinze Jr. announced he signed on to reprise his role as Ray Bronson in the new sequel.