Sarah Michelle Gellar Clears Up Her Awkward Reaction To Jennifer Love Hewitt Question

Actor Sarah Michelle Gellar responded to rampant rumors of a feud between her and her former I Know What You Did Last Summer co-star Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Speculation the two had ongoing beef since working together in the 1997 slasher flick IKWYDLS gained traction after Gellar appeared to give a cold reaction to an inquiry about Hewitt.

Last Wednesday, Gellar attended the New York premiere of her new show Dexter: Original Sin, a prequel to the popular Showtime anti-hero drama Dexter.

When a reporter from Extra asked Gellar about the likelihood of Hewitt returning for the planned remake of IKWYDLS, Gellar, who hinted at an "unofficial" behind-the-scenes involvement on the project, gave a blank expression and replied, "I have nothing to do with that," and walked away.

Here is a clip.

Fans jumped to the conclusion the two actors had lingering resentment, prompting social media users to comment on how Gellar's reaction was "so shady" and that her "facial expression is everything."

One YouTuber commented, "It's clear they had a falling out. SMG is almost disgusted at her mention here lol."

Another said, "You can tell the way Sarah reacted about Jennifer something happened there," based on the commenter's observation the two actors don't follow each other's social media pages.

A third had their suspicion of apparent beef between the actors confirmed after noticing “the way [Gellar's] energy changed so fast after [Hewitt's] name was mentioned."

On Friday, Gellar cleared the air about her "deer in the headlights" expression, explaining it was out of respect for non-disclosure agreements tied to the IKWYDLS reboot, which hadn't gone into production yet.

She said:

"Aspiring actors please note: this deer in the headlights reaction is perfect for when you are excited to see so many old friends in one project but have already stupidly forgotten what NDA means once this month."

Her skittishness about revealing any info on the reboot likely stemmed from her previously getting into "trouble" after posting a photo of an IKWYDLS director's chair before filming started.

In the post, she tagged her husband, Freddie Prinze Jr., who is reprising his character from the original; and Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, who is Gellar's friend and director of the new reboot.

What Gellar couldn't share at the time of the Extra interview was what the interviewer had suspected when asking about Hewitt's involvement in the film based on advance buzz.

It's confirmed that Hewitt is reprising her IKWYDLS character to be a part of the reboot alongside Prinze Jr.

Gellar, However, is expected not to resurrect her character since she was killed off in the first film of the franchise.

On Instagram, Hewitt confirmed she was heading back to set on the new remake, writing:

“It’s never too late to go back. Julie James is returning. I know what you will be doing next summer!”

After getting a slap on the wrist for posting that on-set photo, Gellar said on Tuesday's Live With Kelly and Mark:

“You would think that being in my position, I know what rules are on sets when they say closed sets, you know."

“So my husband’s starring in the movie and it was Thanksgiving so I took our kids to Australia to go out there and visit him. And I was sitting on set and I was like, ‘Oh what a great picture,’ and then I posted it.”

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer star realized she got a little too excited and it clouded her judgment.

The 47-year-old explained:

“Then I found out that they hadn’t posted any pictures from the set yet — hadn’t announced they started filming."

“Yeah … that was an ‘Oops! My bad!' I got in a little bit of trouble."

Here's a clip from the interview with Kelly and Mark.

Hewitt addressed the rumors of her having bad blood with Gellar on Tommy DiDario's podcast, and the speculation she suggested writers kill off Gellar's character in the IKWYDLS script.

"I was 18. They were not taking script notes from me," she said, adding: 

"All of us were in that experience together, you know, figuring it all out and everything."

The star of Fox's drama series 9-1-1 also praised Gellar and Prinze Jr.'s marriage, saying, "I think it’s the cutest thing in the world that they’ve been married for 100 years and have kids. It’s, like, adorable. So it’s just been really funny to see all of this stuff."

Following the interview, DiDario told the internet to calm down with users' gossip about the unsubstantiated feud.

The Extra correspondent called it when he wrote on X (formerly Twitter):

"I’m not sure it feels like a feud to me. Perhaps we shouldn’t continue to pin women against one another for no reason. Just my two cents."

Fans continued sharing their thoughts on the fake scandal and the internet's tendency to jump to conclusions.

The original IKWYDLS was written by Kevin Williamson and followed four teenagers who were stalked and killed off by a hook-wielding mariner in a seaside town a year after they hit a man during a car accident and presumed him dead.

The film spawned a 1998 sequel, a 2006 direct-to-video sequel unrelated to the characters and places in the first film, and a 2021 TV series adaptation from Amazon Prime.

The IKWYDLS reboot, which will be a legacy sequel to the first two films, stars Camila Mendes, Madelyn Cline, Sarah Pidgeon, Tyriq Withers, and Jonah Hauer-King.

It is slated for a 2025 release.