Shortly after the success of the original Scream, screenwriter Kevin Williamson got to work on a sequel, and he also found the time to pen another slasher movie — an adaptation of Lois Duncan‘s YA novel I Know What You Did Last Summer. It grossed $125 million worldwide and spawned a trilogy of films and last year’s Prime Video series, which was totally unconnected.
With last year’s Scream relaunching that slasher franchise after a dormant period, and David Gordon Green having success with his Halloween trilogy, it’s safe to safe that legacy sequels are in vogue right now, and to that end, Sony has begun developing a sequel to I Know What You Did Last Summer that will bring back original stars Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. and surround them with a new young cast.
Deadline broke the news, reporting that Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Do Revenge) will direct from a script by Leah McKendrick and that Neal H. Moritz is in talks to return as a producer on the project. Robinson and McKendrick apparently impressed Sony execs with their pitch last fall and have been quietly working on the sequel for the last few months.
Once Hewitt and Prinze heard the pitch, they were eager to be involved and more than willing to pass the torch to the next generation, much like Neve Campbell and Sylvester Stallone have done with the upcoming Marsh releases Scream VI and Creed III, respectively.
The original I Know What You Did Last Summer found Hewitt, Prinze, Ryan Phillippe, and Sarah Michelle Gellar running from a hook-wielding killer in a fisherman’s coat who has knowledge of a deadly accident they caused the previous summer. The movie was a hit not just because of its excellent young cast, but because it was very well-directed by Jim Gillespie, and it featured a great soundtrack that included Kula Shaker, Our Lady Peace, and Toad the Wet Sprocket.
In addition to Do Revenge, Robinson directed the Gina Rodriguez movie Someone Great and wrote the HBO Max comedy Unpregnant. The Sweet/Vicious creator also wrote Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder and served as a consulting producer on the Disney+ series Hawkeye.
McKendrick’s rom-com script Voicemails for Isabelle was voted to the 2019 Black List and acquired by Sony, so the studio has some history with her. She also wrote, produced, and co-starred in the vigilante thriller M.F.A. She’s represented by UTA and Kaplan Perrone, while Robinson is repped by CAA and Gotham Group. Love Hewitt and Prinze Jr. are repped by Gersh and respectively managed by Vault Entertainment and Brillstein Entertainment.
