A new generation is about to get hooked on I Know What You Did Last Summer.
Like the slicker-wearing fisherman, the world of the 1997 slasher is coming back to life, with an all-new entry in the horror film franchise.
Writer-director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson promised PEOPLE that the 2025 version is “balls-to-the-wall fun.”
“It is not a serious movie. It is a really fun, popcorn summer event,” she said, adding a warning that the kills are “ratcheted up to a hundred in this — it’s much more brutal.”
The sequel promises plenty of seaside slaying in the town of Southport, as a new group of teens attempt to cover up a grisly car accident, only to be picked off one by one.
“We approached it like super fans, so I think people are going to be really happy,” Robinson teased. “All the things that you want to see in this movie, you’re going to see in this movie.”
Here’s everything to know about the 2025 sequel, I Know What You Did Last Summer, including the release date and which original actors will return to relive their teen nightmare.
Is the new I Know What You Did Last Summer a sequel?
Matt Kennedy/Columbia Pictures
Yes, the 2025 I Know What You Did Last Summer is a sequel to the first two movies, I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998).
When is the new I Know What You Did Last Summer coming out?
Brook Rushton/Columbia Pictures
I Know What You Did Last Summer will be released in theaters on July 18, 2025.
Is there a trailer for the 2025 movie I Know What You Did Last Summer?
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Yes. On April 22, Sony Pictures debuted a trailer for I Know What You Did Last Summer. The preview shows how the fisherman’s killing spree begins in an unsuspecting — but terrifying — way.
The trailer also shows the return of Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt, who reprise their roles from the first two movies. The clip ends with Hewitt asking, “I just have one question: What did you do last summer?”
In the new film, climate lawyer Ava (Chase Sui Wonders) returns to Southport for the engagement of Danica (Madelyn Cline) and Teddy (Tyriq Withers). However, after the trio and their friends inadvertently cause an accident at the perilous Reaper’s Curve, the town’s killer returns for revenge.
“What happens at Reaper’s Curve tests Ava, and the group, in ways that you can’t really come back from. It’s a new reality that everyone has to contend with,” Wonders said in a release. “This movie was such a blast to be a part of, and to be able to reinvent such an iconic film was both the scariest thing ever and a dream come true for me as an actor.”
Who is in the cast of the new I Know What You Did Last Summer?
Brook Rushton/Columbia Pictures
The new cast members include Cline, Wonders, Withers, Jonah Hauer-King, Austin Nichols, Sarah Pidgeon, Billy Campbell, Gabbriette and Joshua Orpin.
Hewitt, who played final girl Julie James in the first two movies, is back. As is Prinze, who portrayed Hewitt’s on-screen boyfriend, Ray Bronson.
“It felt like a high school reunion,” Hewitt told PEOPLE. “It felt like that moment where you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh, I have butterflies in my stomach and my heart is beating really fast because I have not seen this person in 150 years and now we’re back, here we are.’ ”
The actress added, “We just had to jump right back into Julie and Ray, but when we did it felt like we had never left, honestly.”
What have other original cast members said about the I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel?
Mandalay Ent/Kobal/Shutterstock
Sarah Michelle Gellar will not return as Helen Shivers, since her character died in the first film.
“I’m involved in the sense of, like, I feel like part of it,” Gellar, who is friends with Robinson and married to Prinze, told PEOPLE. The Buffy star revealed that she spent time on set, saying she “was just there to hang out, and bring coffees and water.”
For the same reason, Ryan Phillippe will also not be reprising his character, Barry Cox, who died in the original.
Brandy’s character Karla Wilson was alive at the end of the 1998 film, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, and when she learned of the latest installment, she expressed interest in returning.
“I need them to give me a call because I survived in that movie!” she told The Hollywood Reporter in July 2024. “I came out in the end, bloodied up, ready to go. I did not die in that film.”
When asked if Brandy would be appearing in the 2025 I Know What You Did Last Summer, Robinson told PEOPLE, “You’ll have to go see the movie.”
“We have one really, really fantastic nod to I Still Know What You Did Last Summer that people are going to love,” she added.
Where can I watch the first two I Know What You Did Last Summer movies?
Columbia/courtesy Everett Collection
The original I Know What You Did Last Summer is currently streaming on Netflix.
It’s also available to rent and purchase, and the same is true for I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.
