NEED TO KNOW
Warning: This post contains spoilers for the new I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel, in theaters now.
Sarah Michelle Gellar is spilling the beauty-queen beans!
The actress shared several behind-the-scenes snapshots from the recently released I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel on Instagram Wednesday, July 23, effectively putting it out in the open that she makes a cameo as her legacy character Helen Shivers in the new film.
“Spoiler alert‼️Helen Shivers is still dead,” began Gellar, 48, in her caption. “When anyone asked me if I was going to be in the new @ikwydlsmovie I never lied. I always answered ‘I am dead.’ And honestly I didn’t see how I could be in the movie until @jennkaytin and @samlansky pitched me that crazy dream sequence with @madelyncline.”
“I still can’t believe we were able to keep [it] a secret. Long live dead Helen Shivers the og Croaker Queen,” she concluded.
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Gellar seemingly claimed in October 2024 that she was not returning for the latest installment, which is directed by her real-life friend Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Do Revenge).
“I am dead,” the Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum explained, referring to her character Helen’s brutal death at the hands of the Fisherman killer in the original 1997 film.
But surprise — Gellar does have a cameo in the film. When Madelyn Cline’s character Danica falls asleep at the police station, she has a dream in which Helen taunts her in the full Croaker Queen costume.
As Robinson, 37, recently told PEOPLE, “As a super fan of this franchise, I was never not going to put Helen Shivers in the movie. And I didn’t lie — she is dead.”
The filmmaker added, “We wanted to bring Madelyn and Sarah together on screen, and I’m so excited about the results. I feel like it’s just so fun.”
Sarah Michelle Gellar/Instagram
Freddie Prinze Jr. — who starred alongside Gellar in the original film and appears as his character Ray Bronson in the sequel, as does final girl Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) — recently told PEOPLE that he obviously “knew from jump” the cameo was going to happen, since he’s married to Gellar.
“We were all really excited for audiences to get to see that and get a little bit of extra love that they weren’t expecting,” said Prinze, 49.
The actor — who also costarred with his wife in the Scooby-Doo films, with the two marrying in 2002 and welcoming two kids together — also said of Gellar’s IKWYDLS cameo, “It’s nice to know a secret, and to know how well-received it’s going to be, months and months before it ever goes out there.”
“To hear the reaction that people have had, because I know some other people that have seen it, they’re all like, ‘Oh, my God, you didn’t tell me! That was the best,’ ” said Prinze. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, it was the best one. Everybody always loves her.’ ”
“To give people another taste of that, I just think was awesome,” he added. “I’m glad everyone made it happen.”
I Know What You Did Last Summer is now playing in theaters.
