Jennifer Love Hewitt ‘So Happy’ Reuniting with Brandy for New ‘IKWYDLS’ (Exclusive)

Warning: This post contains spoilers for the new I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel, in theaters now.

Brandy revisits her horror movie roots with a surprise cameo in the new I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel.

The singer’s character Karla from the 1998 film I Still Know What You Did Last Summer pops up in a scene featured in the end credits of the latest installment.

While at home with her partner (played by Isaiah Mustafa), Karla finds out on the news that her former college roommate Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) was again attacked by a murderous assailant. Then Julie shows up on Karla’s doorstep and presents her with an old photo of them with a red “X” etched over Karla’s face and a message: “It’s not over.”

The scene sets up a potential continuation with Julie and Karla teaming up to defeat another stalker.

Director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson tells PEOPLE, “I always knew I wanted Brandy in this movie. There was no movie without Brandy. But I think you don’t want to just shove someone into a story.”

Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.) and Julie “are both very purposefully woven into this movie,” the filmmaker explains. “To me, the fun of bringing back this franchise is kind of following the rules of the first two movies. So it always felt the most right to bring Brandy back to set up a sequel that she would then be in.”

Robinson says when we find Julie in the new film she has “shut herself off from everybody,” so it “didn’t feel right to me that she would still be best friends with Karla, because I think she would want to protect Karla.”

“So,” she explains, “you needed a thrust to get them back together, and the events of this movie is that thrust that then pulls them back toward each other.”

In the 1998 sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Hewitt, Brandy and Prinze starred alongside Mekhi Phifer, Matthew Settle, Jack Black, Jennifer Esposito and Bill Cobbs.

Hewitt, 46, tells PEOPLE it was “really great” reuniting with Brandy, 46. “We just kept looking at each other,” she says with a laugh. “It was just really funny. We were just so happy to be back together. I think she really felt like I did, just so deeply grateful for this opportunity. It’s just so fun.”

The 9-1-1 star is very down for a potential sequel, which Robinson says she has already mapped out. Says Hewitt, “A sequel could hopefully look like us just being together and having a lot of fun, and I’m down. Let’s leave no mystery — if there’s a seat, I’m there. If they’ll have me, I would love it.”

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Producer Neal H. Moritz, who also worked on the ’90s slashers, says, “We always in the back of our minds had the idea to bring [Brandy] back. We weren’t sure how we were going to bring her back. The way that she is in the movie is a little different than was originally planned. We changed it at the last minute to have her and Jennifer do the scene together. It was a very different scene, and I think this was good.”

Robinson says it was a blast to meet and work with the “lovely” Brandy after being a longtime fan.

“She’s so cool. She’s so funny. She’s gorgeous. She’s amazing,” says the director. “There have been several moments on this movie where I’m just like, ‘What am I? This is the craziest thing I’ve ever done. This is so surreal. What is happening?’ And directing Brandy was certainly not something that was on my bingo card two years ago. I mean, she’s Brandy!”

“I literally remember dancing to ‘The Boy Is Mine’ at my bat mitzvah. That was the song,” adds Robinson. “It’s very surreal and crazy to have spent time with and directed Brandy. I got to show Brandy the trailer, and she was like, ‘I’m proud of you,’ and I was going to cry.”

I Know What You Did Last Summer is in theaters now.