Sarah Michelle Gellar on whether fans can expect her in I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot

Actor led original 1997 slasher film as beauty queen Helen Shivers

Sarah Michelle Gellar said she will not be returning for the forthcoming I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot, reminding fans that her character Helen Shivers died in the 1997 movie.

The 47-year-old actor led the classic horror film alongside her now-husband Freddie Prinze Jr, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ryan Phillippe.

Directed by Jim Gillespie, the slasher follows four friends as they are stalked and taunted by a killer threatening to expose their murderous secret.

Asked in an interview with People if she was planning on reprising her role in the new film, Gellar confirmed she would not.

“I am dead,” she said of her beauty queen character Helen, who was fatally stabbed in the original film.

“My best friend [Jennifer Kaytin Robinson] is directing it, so we joke that I have an unofficial job, which is I am continuity,” she said of the upcoming project.

“So I’m always the one telling her, ‘Well, that would happen, or that wouldn’t happen with those characters,’ so I do have kind of an unofficial job title.”

Sarah Michelle Gellar, pictured at San Diego Comin-Con in July, starred as Helen Shivers in the classic 1997 slasher ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ (Getty Images for IMDb)

It was recently revealed that Prinze Jr will reprise his role as Ray Bronson in the upcoming sequel, joining the previously announced cast of Chase Sui Wonders, Madelyn Cline, Sarah Pidgeon, Tyriq Withers and Jonah Haur-King.

Hewitt is also in talks to return for the new movie, though as of September 23, she was still in negotiations.

As of now, plot details remain tightly under wraps.

Written by Sam Lansky and Kaytin Robinson from a draft by Leah McKendrick, the untitled sequel is slated to be released on July 28, 2025.

Just last week, Gellar expressed her interest in stepping in for her late friend and fellow actor Shannen Doherty in a potential Mallrats sequel.

Doherty, who died from breast cancer in July, starred in Kevin Smith’s 1995 comedy about two friends who take a chaotic trip to the mall after they’re both dumped by their girlfriends on the same day.

The sequel movie has been in development since 2020, but Smith recently shared that he wants to move forward with the movie as a tribute to Doherty, who had initially been set to reprise her role.

“I would ask Sarah to step in for Shannen if there’s a possibility that we get to make Twilight of the Mallrats,” Smith told The Hollywood Reporter.

“I think that’d be personally meaningful for her on some level because of her relationship with Shannen,” he said. “She’d bring Shannen’s warmth with her, and it’s maybe the next best thing to having Shannen there.”

Gellar immediately commented on an Instagram post of the article, writing: “Here for this idea!!”