As filming for the new I Know What You Did Last Summer movie continues, more updates from the set are revealed, and the latest one makes me worry that the movie will make the same mistake as a failed horror legacy sequel from 2022. The horror genre continues to seize the trend of reboots and legacy sequels, more so as some of the most popular franchises have been brought back through these, though not all with the same success. Still, more keep joining the trend, as is now the case for I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, the I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel is a continuation of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, and for that, it’s bringing survivors Julie (Hewitt) and Ray (Freddie Prinze Jr.) back. Of course, the movie is also introducing a new generation of characters, though plot details remain unknown. Now, the latest update from Hewitt might hint at a disappointing truth about Julie’s role in I Know What You Did Last Summer, which makes me worry about the movie making the same mistake as another horror legacy movie from three years ago.

Jennifer Love Hewitt’s I Know What You Did Last Summer Hints At Julie Having A Small Role

Julie Isn’t Exactly The Final Girl This Time

What’s known about the new I Know What You Did Last Summer movie is that it will introduce Julie and Ray’s daughter, played by Sarah Pidgeon, and it seems like Julie and Ray’s marriage won’t be going through its best moment. The rest of the details about the story of the I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel are unknown, but from what Hewitt has shared from the set and more, it doesn’t seem like Julie will have a big role.

Production of I Know What You Did Last Summer started in November 2024 and continues through March 2025. However, on March 13, Hewitt shared a video on her Instagram account holding a clapper board for the movie with the caption “Julie James, it was good to see you again” and praising Robinson’s work. Hewitt’s post doesn’t confirm that filming of I Know What You Did Last Summer has wrapped, instead just that she has finished shooting her scenes. If that’s the case, Hewitt has wrapped her involvement earlier than her co-stars.

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This could go two ways – either Julie has a small role in I Know What You Did Last Summer and will only be seen sporadically through it or late into the movie, or she will have a tragic end. As for Ray, it’s unknown if Freddie Prinze Jr. has also finished shooting his scenes or if he’s still filming, so it’s unclear how involved Ray will be in the story (and with Julie).

I Know What You Did Last Summer Sequel Risks Repeating Texas Chainsaw Mᴀssacre 2022’s Sally Mistake

Texas Chainsaw Mᴀssacre 2022 Completely Failed Sally

Most horror legacy sequels so far have brought their Final Girl back, if not as a main character at least as a supporting one, as happened in the Halloween reboot trilogy and Scream 2022. Others, however, opted for a minor role for their Final Girls, and in some cases, this didn’t go well. The biggest example that comes to mind (and the most frustrating one to me so far) is 2022’s Texas Chainsaw Mᴀssacre. Directed by David Blue Garcia, Texas Chainsaw Mᴀssacre is the ninth entry in the franchise and is set five decades after the first movie.

Texas Chainsaw Mᴀssacre follows Melody (Sarah Yarkin) and Dante (Jacob Latimore), entrepreneurs who arrive in the abandoned Texas town of Harlow with Melody’s sister, Lila (Elsie Fisher), and Dante’s girlfriend, Ruth (Nell Hudson). While inspecting a dilapidated orphanage, they meet its residents: an old woman named Ginny and a nameless towering man. When Ginny dies of a heart attack, the man goes on a murder spree, revealed to be none other than the infamous serial killer Leatherface.

Accompanying the new cast is Olwen Fouéré as Sally Hardesty, the only survivor of Leatherface’s murder spree in 1973. Sally is now a hardened Texas Tanger, and when she learns of the attacks, she sets out to investigate. While escaping Leatherface, Melody and Lila come across Sally, who locks them in her car before confronting Leatherface. Unfortunately, Sally is fatally injured by Leatherface, though she still manages to shoot him to help the sisters escape before she dies – and that’s Sally’s involvement in Texas Chainsaw Mᴀssacre.

Sally’s role in Texas Chainsaw Mᴀssacre was so small that the movie wouldn’t have been affected without her, and it felt a bit insulting to have her back for just a couple of minutes, only to be killed. Whether Julie is going to die in the new I Know What You Did Last Summer movie or not is to be seen, but her potentially small role in it makes me worry that it will repeat the mistake of Texas Chainsaw Mᴀssacre and be an irrelevant and disappointing return.

I Know What You Did Last Summer Sequel Needs Julie (But Not Too Much)

It Can’t Be A Legacy Sequel Without Julie

Hewitt’s potentially small role in I Know What You Did Last Summer is also worrying because the movie definitely needs Julie James. The point of a legacy sequel is to bring back characters from the previous movies along with new ones, so there’s a connection between movies and a bridge between characters. What can be tricky in legacy sequels is how much time to give to legacy characters and how much to give to the new characters.

In the case of I Know What You Did Last Summer, it’s even trickier as Julie’s story ended in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer with the deaths of Ben Willis and his son. This has raised many questions about the plot of the I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel and Julie and Ray’s involvement, as it risks being repeтιтive. Still, Julie, as the franchise’s Final Girl, shouldn’t be wasted like Texas Chainsaw Mᴀssacre did with Sally, but she can’t be the main character anymore.

What Could Julie’s Role In I Know What You Did Last Summer Be?

There Are Ways To Bring Julie Back

All this leaves the big question of what could Julie’s role in the I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel be if she’s only having a small role. The most obvious way is that her daughter will be involved in an accident like the one in the first movie, prompting them to do what they can to protect their family but, at the same time, find the killer.

It’s also possible that Julie and Ray only show up in the second or third act of I Know What You Did Last Summer, when their daughter is desperate for help, hence Hewitt finishing her scenes before the rest of the cast. Of course, I Know What You Did Last Summer could have a couple of surprises for fans of the previous movies, and Julie and Ray’s involvement could be bigger without overshadowing the new cast, and well justified.