I Know What You Did Last Summer Features Surprising Cameos and A Controversial Killer Twist

I Know What You Did Last Summer attempts to apply the reboot-sequel (requel) formula to the iconic 1990s slasher-horror film (based on the equally iconic 1973 novel by Lois Duncan) that had a generation of teens reconsidering their unruly behavior. However, the legacy sequel format demands that legacy characters from the original film(s) show up to help ‘pass the baton’ to a new generation of characters. I Know What You Did Last Summer got original stars Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. to sign back up for more bloody-hook mayhem in Southport, but fans will be pleasantly surprised to know they aren’t the only veterans that return!

Massive Spoilers Follow!

The Croaker Queen Returns

A recurring motif of I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025) involves local “diva” Danica Richards (Madelyn Cline) remembering her time as winner of Southport’s local beauty pageant (crowned the “Croaker Queen”). As the murder mystery begins to unfold, Danica finds strange kinship with Helen Shivers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), the former Croaker Queen who was one of the Fisherman Killer’s victims in the original film. However, as the bodies start to pile up (including both of Danica’s would-be husbands), the diva begins to break down – and that becomes clear in a disturbing nightmare sequence that unfolds, after Danica falls asleep in a police station holding room.

In the dream, Danica comes face-to-face with Helen Shivers. Sarah Michelle Gellar appears in the role, with her face de-aged through CGI to resemble her look in 1997. Helen isn’t there for moral support, however; she’s there to give Danica the dark proclamation that she will likely die just like Helen did. The sequence ends with Helen’s face melting away to reveal a rotting skull, before her entire body dissolves into ash and smoke.

Gellar played coy about returning to IKWYDLS alongside her real-life husband (Prinze Jr.) and Jennifer Love-Hewitt. That was fairly easy to do since her character was killed in the first film, and hasn’t appeared in the franchise since then. Still, it’s a nice cameo surprise for a lot of fans coming to this legacy sequel based on fond memories of the original. And it’s not the only surprise throwback cameo the film delivers (see below).

From Hero to Killer

By the end of the film, the franchise’s new “final girl,” Ava Brooks (Chase Sui Wonders) makes a horrific discovery: Not only is a girl from her friends group, Stevie (Sarah PIdgeon), the one committing the murders – Stevie was trained and mentored by none other than her ex-husband Ray Bronson (Prinze Jr.), who snaps and decides to become the very serial killer he heroically battled in the first two films. Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt) pieces together the facts, too, and arrives at Ray’s just in time to help Ava fight the killer. Ray is nearly about to murder Julie, when Ava recovers and shoots him through the back with his own harpoon gun, with Julie getting to put a new spin on the line “What are you waiting for?” when screaming for Ava to fire.

The reveal of Ray as the killer is going to be one of the most controversial parts of I Know What You Did Last Summer – and maybe one of the most controversial twists ever in a horror franchise. Potential shark jumping territory.

Who Do We Have to F*ck Up This Time?

There is a mid-credits scene attached to I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025), and like a Marvel movie, it’s a “button scene” used to set up the next installment.

During Ray’s initial time alone with Ava, he confesses: an earlier scene on a boat, where Ava fights off Stevie, and Ray seemingly shoots her into the sea, was staged. Ray was maintaining his cover, but he says he left his disciple very much alive – a claim later confirmed in a news broadcast during the epilogue. The mid-credits scene finds Julie traveling to the Bahamas, where she seeks the help of an old friend she can actually trust: her former roommate, Karla Wilson (Brandy Norwood). Karla has already been watching the breaking news about Ray going psycho in Southport, and when Julie shows up concerned about Stevie still being at large, Karla only has one question: ‘Who do we have to f*ck up now?’

This mid-credits scene seems to put Julie and Karla back in the spotlight for a I Still Know What You Did Last Summer legacy sequel. The legacy connections also clear up any questions about the canon and who really survived the first films.

I Know What You Did Last Summer is now playing in theaters.

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