Twenty-eight years after the first scream echoed through Southport, the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise is back—and if the newly dropped trailer is anything to go by, we’re in for another bloodbath. This time, Sony’s horror revival pairs fan nostalgia with fresh faces, as director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson helms a sequel aimed at both diehards and a new generation of scream queens and final boys.
Premiering online this Tuesday after a CinemaCon sneak peek last month, the trailer makes it official: the hook is back, and someone’s got unfinished business.
The 2025 sequel drops in theaters July 18, and it brings back original survivors Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr., reprising their roles as Julie James and Ray Bronson. This time, they’re joined by a younger cast—Madelyn Cline, Sarah Pidgeon, Tyriq Withers, Jonah Hauer-King, and Chase Sui Wonders—playing five friends who find themselves haunted by a secret from last summer that refuses to stay buried.
Sound familiar? It should. The film pays direct homage to the original 1997 slasher, which saw four friends stalked by a fisherman with a hook after they dumped a body and tried to move on. But this time, the new victims aren't just hiding a secret—they’re being forced to confront the legacy of the first massacre.
In the trailer, Freddie Prinze Jr.'s Ray ominously warns, “This isn’t the first time there’s been violence like this in Southport.” Seconds later, Hewitt's Julie delivers the line that ties the past and present: “I just have one question—what did you do last summer?”
The screenplay comes from Sam Lansky and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, building on an original draft by Leah McKendrick. Neal Moritz, who produced the first film, is back as well, ensuring the continuity fans crave.
The franchise originally debuted on October 17, 1997, based on Lois Duncan’s 1973 novel and written for screen by Scream’s Kevin Williamson. The first film starred Hewitt, Prinze, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Ryan Phillippe—and yes, the villain with a hook turned out to be very real.
Now, with the 2025 revival, the torch passes to a new group, though not without some continuity. And fans are already buzzing over the potential for more cameos. One name notably missing? Brandy. Despite surviving the 1998 sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, the singer-actress revealed last year that she hadn’t been contacted.
“I need them to give me a call,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “I survived in that movie! I came out in the end, bloodied up, ready to go.”
As for first looks, the poster dropped on March 27, and it’s pure slasher gold: a crimson hook dripping in blood, with the film’s title scrawled beneath in blood-red type. Message received.
With Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. returning to the scene of the original crime, and a new batch of haunted twenty-somethings running from guilt and something sharper, the franchise seems poised to bridge generations of horror fans.
July 18 can’t come soon enough. We’re ready to scream.