I Know What You Did Last Summer’s Returning Characters Ruin The Movie

Summary

I Know What You Did Last Summer brings Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. back.

The legacy sequel embraces a similar setup to the 1997 original but seems to have too many conveniences in place for returning characters.

I Know What You Did Last Summer may have been better off as a remake if the elements around the returning characters prove weak.

I Know What You Did Last Summer is a new legacy sequel in the horror franchise. However, the film’s bold choice to include characters from the 1997 original may ruin the latest version. 1997’s I Know What You Did Last Summer follows a group of young teens who cause an accident while driving recklessly. They chose to dispose of the evidence, believing they had killed a man, throwing the body into the ocean. However, a year later, they begin receiving threatening messages that reveal someone knows their secret, which is quickly followed by a killer picking them off one by one. 2025’s I Know What You Did Last Summer is bringing back two of the original story’s surviving characters, with Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. reprising their roles. While the trailer for the new film has shown audiences what to expect, with a new group of teens being picked off by a rain-slicker-wearing killer following their negligence, the returning characters look to have been shoehorned into the story, which could cause a serious problem.

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I Know What You Did Last Summer Offers A Similar Setup To The Original

I Know What You Did Last Summer has a similar story setup to the original film, with minor tweaks. There looks to be more teens involved in the inciting incident that sees them seemingly kill someone. There are also slight variations in the death, as the new version appears to show a car sent over a cliff, with the 1997 version featuring the teens hitting someone with their car. Despite the differences, the 2025 I Know What You Did Last Summer keeps the taunting notes, with the characters receiving notes indicating that someone knows the details of their heinous act from the prior summer. As the teens begin to die at the hands of a killer who mirrors the original antagonist, they learn about the events of the 1997 film. Prinze’s Ray seems to be a surly local, with Love Hewitt’s Julie appearing to stay far from it all. Despite her efforts, Julie is pulled back into the carnage, with numerous questions left to answer about the new film’s story.
The Returning I Know What You Did Last Summer Characters May Pose The Film’s Biggest Problem

Bringing Ray and Julie back into the story poses various questions, such as what happened to their relationship. The sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, saw the two engaged as the credits rolled, which was the last anyone saw of the two. With the new sequel looking to have them split apart, audiences will want to know what happened. The biggest issue their return poses is why go to Julie and Ray for help? What possible help could they give the new characters? It is already odd that a similar car accident has set a copycat killer into motion, but beyond that, this appears to be an all-new killer, meaning their help is useless. The killer who was after them in 1997 was Ben Willis, who came back in the sequel with the help of his son, but both are confirmed dead. Plus, it’s not like Ben or his son had some complex plan, and instead killed when the opportunity struck. Even the events of the sequel seemed to have only been planned as far as getting the characters to a remote island, with the rest being acts of convenience. Therefore, unless one of the characters is related to Julie or Ray, or the killer has a familial connection throughout the story, they feel like pointless additions beyond nostalgia, as their entire experience was a frantic, random fight for survival. Plot elements in the new movie mention the Southport Massacre of 1997, which is the original film’s events. This means what happened to Julie and Ray is known. Therefore, taking care of the inspiration for the killer. Still, it seems convenient that the opening is the same, the killer dons the same modus operandi, and that it is happening in the same place despite no other direct connection. While most audiences want to see Love Hewitt and Prinze Jr. returning to their roles, the current reasoning is an issue of concern.
I Know What You Did Last Summer May Have Been Better Off As A Remake

With so many odd contrivances seemingly in place to bring characters back for I Know What You Did Last Summer, a legacy sequel may not have been the route to follow. The name still carries weight in horror circles, with Julie being a fondly remembered final girl despite a short run of films. As much as most may want to see the legacy characters, a lackluster story won’t appease anyone. Perhaps if Julie and Ray were the stars of the movie rather than side characters, it could appear less forced. I Know What You Did Last Summer may also have a few tricks up its sleeve that completely put all concerns to rest, but that remains to be seen. While remakes often miss the mark, given the potential issues on display, I Know What You Did Last Summer may have been better off following that path. The original film is based on a novel of the same name, which could have easily served as inspiration for another film rather than a legacy sequel. While movies like Scream and Halloween have found success with similar sequels, I Know What You Did Last Summer may have deep issues that could hinder the film’s overall quality when it hits theaters later this summer.

I Know What You Did Last Summer

Release Date

July 18, 2025

Runtime

100 minutes

Madelyn Cline

Danica Richards

Chase Sui Wonders

Ava Brucks

Jonah Hauer-King

Milo Griffin

Tyriq Withers