I Know What You Did Last Summer: new sequel writer on her pitch and protecting the property

Thirteen months have already gone by since it was announced that the 1997 slasher I Know What You Did Last Summer (watch it HERE) was getting a new sequel with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Do Revenge) set to direct from a screenplay by Leah McKendrick (M.F.A.) and Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. in talks to reprise the roles of Julie James and Ray Bronson. We haven’t heard much about the project since then, except when Prinze said he hadn’t actually gotten an offer yet and Hewitt said she would gladly come back for another sequel. There’s no word on when or if this sequel will be going into production – but during a recent interview with Collider, McKendrick did talk about making her pitch, collaborating with Robinson, and her reason for pursuing the job.

McKendrick had been working on a Grease prequel called Summer Lovin’ at Paramount that was cancelled, and after that experience she thought she was done working on properties she didn’t own. Then the opportunity to pitch for a new I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel came up. She told Collider, “The reason I was able to go in is because it was a Sony film, I have a relationship with Sony, and the producers I also had a relationship with. And I found out it was (Robinson) that was gonna be directing it. And more than anything I thought, ‘Because my love is so deep for I Know What You Did Last Summer, I have to protect it. I must protect it. I can’t let this be, like, cheesy and a cash grab.’ … When it’s like they’re rebooting something that you love so deeply from your childhood, you’re like, ‘I know how we can do this and not make it cheesy, and it can stay true to the mythology, and we can bring back the OGs, and it can be a culmination.’ You have all these ideas. So I met with (Robinson). She is so cool, she is so smart. She is just, like, down to try some edgy, cool-ass shit. And I was like, ‘I’m gonna give this my best shot,’ and I pitched. All they told me was they were like, ‘We need to know the accident, the event that kicks it off, and know who the killer is.’ Because they knew that if I had to do a whole fleshed out process of pitching, I was probably just not gonna do it because my heart had been so broken by the reboot game. But when they told me that, I was like, ‘I know what I’m gonna do.’ And no spoilers, but I will say that I think if you’re an OG fan, I think you’re gonna be happy. I think you’re gonna get it.“

She went on to say that Robinson is “thinking spectacle” for this sequel is ready to “knock out some really complicated ideas” while ensuring the film is a wild, fun ride. She said the story deals with “beautiful people behaving badly,” just like the original film, and “it really reckons with some big ideas about hero and villain, right and wrong, how your skeletons come back to haunt you. And in the age of the internet and the age where fame is such a revered concept, the creation of TikTok and social media, who is Julie James in a world where there are no secrets anymore?“

Are you interested in this new sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer? What do you think of the things Leah McKendrick had to say about the project? Let us know by leaving a comment below.