Jennifer Love Hewitt has officially announced her return to the slasher franchise that launched her career, ending months of speculation about her involvement in the upcoming I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel. The actress revealed the news through Instagram, declaring, “It’s never too late to go back. Julie James is returning.” She playfully added, “I know what you will be doing next summer,” referencing the film’s July 18, 2025 theatrical release date.
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The confirmation follows Hewitt’s recent appearance on the I’ve Never Said This Before With Tommy DiDario podcast, where she hinted at her return.
“I am possibly preparing for that,” she told the host in a clip obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. “I am so close to being able to say something that’s exciting.”
During the podcast, Hewitt expressed her thoughtful approach to revisiting the role after 27 years.
“It has only been scheduling and me trying to make sure that if I go back to the franchise, I just don’t want to be the ghost of ’90s past,” she explained. “I really want to do something, and I want to be there for Julie James fans. … I just want it to feel like, you know, if she comes back then it means something.”
The actress joins previously confirmed original cast member Freddie Prinze Jr. in the sequel, which has already begun production. Sarah Michelle Gellar, who’s married to Prinze and starred in the original, accidentally revealed filming had started when she posted a set photo on Thanksgiving 2024. “You would think that being in my position, I know what rules are on sets when they say closed sets,” she later admitted on Live with Kelly and Mark.
Scheduling presented a significant challenge for Hewitt’s return.
“It’s such a delicate thing because we’re trying to deal with the 9-1-1 schedule and the movie schedule, so we’re just trying to figure it out and make it happen,” she previously told Parade. “If I’m going to come back 27 years later, I don’t want to just be in it for five seconds, like, I don’t want it to just be like that thing that’s like, ‘Oh, well, there’s the ghost of I Know What You Did past, here she is.’ So I want to be able to carve out time to really be in it for people and to have it matter.”
The project reunites Hewitt with the franchise that helped establish her as a leading actress. The 1997 original, directed by Jim Gillespie and written by Kevin Williamson, follows four young friends haunted by a tragic accident and stalked by a hook-wielding killer in their seaside town. The film spawned sequels in 1998 and 2006, though Hewitt and Prinze Jr. only returned for the first sequel.
Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Do Revenge) will direct the new installment from a screenplay by Leah McKendrick. The cast includes Chase Sui Wonders, Madelyn Cline, Sarah Pidgeon, Tyriq Withers, Jonah Haur-King, Lola Tung, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Austin Nichols, and Gabbriette.
During the podcast interview, Hewitt also addressed long-standing rumors about on-set tensions during the original film’s production, particularly regarding an alleged feud with Gellar.
“I was 18. They were not taking script notes from me,” she clarified. “All of us were in that experience together, you know, figuring it all out and everything. And I root for her and Freddie. I think it’s the cutest thing in the world that they’ve been married for 100 years and have kids. It’s like adorable.”
When asked about potential returns of other cast members, including Brandy Norwood from the 1998 sequel, Hewitt responded, “I have heard that. Yes, I have,” before joking that she had to rewatch the movies to remember who survived. “My first thought was, ‘We have to have Jack Black,’ and then I was like, ‘Oh no, he died,’” referencing Black’s character being stabbed through the chest with a gardening tool.
