Jennifer Love Hewitt Confirms Her Return In ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ Sequel

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If Julie James were a real person, it’s at this moment that we would say, “This is what we were waiting for.” I Know What You Did Last Summer final girl, Jennifer Love Hewitt, who appeared as Julie James in the first two movies, is onboard and set to reprise her role for the upcoming installment. It’s been a longtime coming, with plenty of back-and-forth movement, but we’re thrilled that the 9-1-1 star has finally announced the “exciting” news that she’s been teasing for months. This makes her the second original name to join the Jennifer Kaytin Robinson-helmed feature after her OG co-star and on-screen love interest, Freddie Prinze Jr. confirmed his return as Ray Bronson back in September.

In the months that have passed since Prinze Jr. revealed his return and the breaking news surrounding the fate of Hewitt’s Julie James (what a name), the movie has gotten one exciting update after the next. Sure, we were all a little bit defeated when Sarah Michelle Gellar confirmed that her character from the original film, Helen Shivers, was really, totally dead, dead, but it was exciting that she was essentially the one to announce that filming had begun in late November.

While so many of us are stoked to see the characters we know and love from the 1997 film and its 1998 follow-up back in the saddle, there are plenty of new names joining the fold. Following in the steps laid about by 2022’s Scream, the next chapter of I Know What You Did Last Summer will blend legacy characters with new personalities. Included in that lineup are names such as Jonah Hauer-King, Madelyn Cline, Alexander Chavez, Lola Tung, Tyriq Withers, Chase Sui Wonders and more.

What Jennifer Love Hewitt Has Previously Said About Her ‘IKWYDLS’ Return

Over the last few weeks and months, all eyes have been on Hewitt for her yes or no to rejoining the slasher franchise. In late November, she kept things pretty tight-lipped, revealing, “We’re so close, that’s all I’m gonna say” while continuously pointing to her packed filming schedule for 9-1-1 as the primary reason why a decision hadn’t been reached. More recently, she chatted with Tommy DiDario on the podcaster’s I’ve Never Said This Before With Tommy DiDario, hitting fans with the big reveal that a part for Julie James had been written - she just wasn’t sure that she would be playing the character. Revealing that one of her other hangups was to be certain that audiences were getting the best sequel possible and not just one for the heck of it, Hewitt told DiDario,

“It has only been scheduling and me trying to make sure that if I go back to the franchise, I just don’t want to be the ghost of ’90s past. I really want to do something, and I want to be there for Julie James fans… I just want it to feel like, you know, if she comes back then it means something.”

Now that we know Hewitt is ready for another round against a mystery killer, we’re looking even more forward to the film’s release on July 18.