'I Know What You Did Last Summer' Reboot Director 'Tried Relentlessly' To Get Sarah Michelle Gellar Back—But There Was One Big Problem

Sarah Michelle Gellar? More like "Sarah Dead Gellar."

At least that’s what the iconic scream queen told director and best friend Jennier Kaytin Robinson when she tried to pitch all the ways to bring back Helen Shivers’ frozen corpse to life for the I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot.

The director shared the conversation with Entertainment Weekly, telling them:

"I mean the big one, I tried relentlessly, and she's dead."

She added:

"I tried to pitch some crazy s--- too. I was like, 'What if it's like you weren't dead and you're actually alive, but in hiding?'"

“Sarah's like, 'I was on ice. I was the most dead a person could be. You can see my frozen body.' I was like, 'Yeah, but what if?' And she said, 'I am dead. I am Sarah Dead Gellar.'"

Details, details, SMG.

Writer-director Robinson is also best known for MTV's Sweet/Vicious, co-writing Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder with Taika Waititi, and directing and writing Netflix's Do Revenge starring Maya Hawke. Hawke was another cameo that Robinson hoped to convince to join the reboot, but Hawke's schedule conflicted with filming.

Horror fans may recall that Sarah Michelle Gellar’s character met her end trying to escape the stalker in the middle of a Southport, North Carolina, parade. The drums from the band conveniently obscured Helen’s screams as a fisherman's coat-wearing serial killer slashed his way into 1997 horror movie infamy.

Her body was discovered on packing ice at the climax of the film by her costar, Jennifer Love Hewitt, who played Julie James and will return for the reboot alongside original star Freddie Prinze Jr., who just so happens to be married to Gellar in real life.

Brook Rushton/Columbia Pictures

So, what are you waiting for? Watch the I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot trailer below:

- YouTubeSony Pictures Entertainment/YouTube

In the trailer, eagle-eyed fans can spot a picture of Gellar’s Helen hanging in a photo frame behind Hewitt, who stands in front of Prinze Jr. It was announced last September, that the actor would join the cast and reprise his role as Ray Bronson, the love interest to Lewitt’s James.

The movie also stars Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Jonah Hauer-King, and Sarah Pidgeon as a group of teenagers stalked by another mysterious stranger, and who ultimately seek advice from the original survivors of the 1997 Southport Massacre. Fans can catch this summer slasher movie when it premieres on July 18th.

And even though she’s like dead dead in the movie-verse, Gellar did share her support for Robinson’s casting and realistic movie direction, telling People magazine:

"Jen's put together such an amazing cast, and I'm so happy and excited for all of them. I will be there with moral support behind the camera."

Although the IKWYDLS universe appears to be in good hands, fans did offer more creative ways to bring Gellar’s character back:

And others praised Gellar for honoring the film’s continuity by not joining the reboot:

Funny enough, Helen Shivers’ character actually lives on in the book-verse of Lois Duncan’s 1973 novel I Know What You Did Last Summer, where she goes by the name “Rivers.”

So there is some hope, IKWYDLS fans!