As Mindy Meeks-Martin wisely observed in last year’s Scream, “You can't just reboot a franchise from scratch anymore – the fans won't stand for it!” And since the Child’s Play and Black Christmas reboots haven’t fared nearly as well as ‘legacyquels’ like Scream and David Gordon Green’s Halloween trilogy, you’ll see she’s got a point. Clearly Sony agrees too, as it’s now planning to resurrect its own '90s slasher franchise I Know What You Did Last Summer with the original cast in tow.
According to Deadline, Sony Pictures has tapped Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, director of last year’s sharp contemporary high school satire Do Revenge, to helm the sequel. Even more exciting is the news that Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. are in talks to reprise their roles as Julie James and Ray Bronson, who were last seen as newlyweds at the end of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, still seemingly being stalked by Muse Watson’s murderous Ben Willis.
Reportedly, the project is still in early development, but Neal H. Moritz is in talks to return as producer and Leah McKendrick – whose pitch for the sequel alongside Robinson is said to have blown studio execs away – is on board as screenwriter.
Following 2006’s disappointing DTV threequel I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer and a one-and-done reboot streaming series in 2021, fans would probably do well to forget a few of the franchise’s last summers before this one arrives. But with OG cast members set to return, a fresh filmmaker at the helm, and future nostalgia the order of the day, we’re hopeful that this slasher revival could end up being a cut above.