Sony Developing I Know What You Did Last Summer Sequel, Original Stars In Talks To Return

I Know What You Did Last Summer is one of the more famous slashers that followed in Scream’s wake, and now a new sequel is in the works. Deadline reports that Sony Pictures is working on a new film in the franchise, which will be directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson (Do Revenge). In addition, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. — whose characters survived the original film and its sequel — are in talks to return.

I Know What You Did Last Summer was one of a number of films that released in the wake of the original Scream and was written by that film’s Kevin Williamson, though he actually penned it years before. Based in the 1973 Lois Duncan novel, the 1997 film stars Hewitt, Prinze, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe as a group of friends who appear to kill a pedestrian with their car on 4th of July and hide the body. They are then stalked a year later by a hook-wielding killer in a fisherman’s outfit.

The film was a massive success with $125.3 million worldwide on a $17 million budget and spawned a less well-regarded sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, which released in 1998 and grossed $84 million against a $24 million budget. A third film was released straight-to-video in 2006 but has no direct connection to the previous films and is contains supernatural elements, unlike the first two.

Plot details are under wraps for the new film, which was pitched by Leah McKendrick (who is writing) and Robinson. The pitch is said to have “blown away” studio execs last fall and is hoping to follow on the success of the Scream relaunch. Sony is planning to do a “passing of the torch” sequel with original cast members and a new generation. Robinson’s Do Revenge for Netflix was cited as a reason for the go-ahead, as it became a hit in its Netflix release and pays homage to 1990s teen genre pics. Hewitt and Prinze were said to be on board after hearing the pitch.