I Know What You Did Last Summer Actor Defends Lying About Their Role In The Sequel

Massive spoilers ahead for the new I Know What You Did Last Summer movie!

The horror genre's renaissance is showing no signs of slowing down, to the delight of fans like me. Some of the best horror movies returned with new sequels, including the new I Know What You Did Last Summer. The sequel was one of the most highly anticipated upcoming horror movies of the season, thanks to the return of Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. It turns out that some more legacy characters were included too, and one star defended lying about their role in the slasher.

I Know What You Did Last Summer's ending featured a massive twist, as did the credits scene. But one of the most surprising moments of its 111-minute runtime was when Sarah Michelle Gellar reprised her role as Helen Shivers, appearing in the dream of protagonist Danica (Madelyn Cline). This broke the internet, especially after SMG denied her role since Helen was dead. Gellar posted a photo dump from the set over on Instagram, where she defended her lie. Check it out below:

I mean, she's not wrong. Rather than saying "I am not in this movie", the Buffy the Vampire Slayer star simply kept saying that Helen was dead. Technically, that wasn't a lie, but was an omission of the truth. And as such, moviegoing audiences were able to be surprised when she suddenly appeared thanks to I Know What You Did Last Summer's dream sequence. Pretty sneaky stuff.

This new slasher was built on the previous two I Know What You Did Last Summer flicks, with even the sequel staying canon. Director/ co-writer Jennifer Kaytin Robinson clearly loves the franchise, which is why her movie featured so many connections to the originals.

The OG I Know What You Did Last Summer is just one of many projects that solidified Sarah Michelle Gellar as a Scream Queen. Helen's chase is arguably the most thrilling of that entire first movie, resulting in the beloved character's death. Since she (obviously) didn't return for I Still Know, fans didn't expect Gellar to reprise her role in the 2025 flick. And the cast and crew managed to guard that cameo until the movie hit theaters last weekend.

Knowing that she had a secret role adds new context to Sarah Michelle Gellar's set photo that she posted when the new IKWYDLS was filming. While the public assumed she was just there to support her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr., it turns out she had a role of her own. So it makes sense that SMG got into trouble for posting that image back in November.

I Know What You Did Last Summer is in theaters now as part of the 2025 movie release list. We'll just have to wait and see if another sequel is ordered, especially thanks to another legacy character popping up in the credits.