Every cameo and returning character in I Know What You Did Last Summer that surprised the audience

The 2025 film I Know What You Did Last Summer brings to us the OG cast from the first two films of the iconic slasher franchise. In this latest film of the series, actors Sarah Michelle Gellar and Brandy Norwood make cameos while Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt reprise their roles, and we could not be any more delighted!

The series is based on the novel by Lois Duncan in 1973, I Know What You Did Last Summer. The 2025 sequel is helmed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, with a fresh cast of actors including Chase Sui Wonders, Madelyn Cline, Tyriq Withers, Sarah Pidgeon, and Jonah Hauer-King.

The film follows the plot of how a buddy gang suffers the consequences in the present due to partaking in an indelible, harmful action years ago.

Its synopsis, as per IMDb, goes as:

"A group of friends are terrorised by a stalker who knows about a gruesome incident from their past."

Let us know more about the returning roles and unexpected cameos of the OG actors in I Know What You Did Last Summer.

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The iconic cameos and returning characters of I Know What You Did Last Summer

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1) Brandy Norwood as Karla Wilson (Cameo)

Actor Brandy Norwood, who starred in the role of Karla Wilson in the second film of the franchise, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), steps into the character once again in a cameo in the 2025 sequel.

In the 1998 film, Wilson is close friends with Jennifer Love Hewitt's Julie James. Karla Wilson plays a huge role in bringing a positive change to Julie's wellbeing, and also saves her life from the hands of an attack by a fisherman.

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2) Freddie Prinze Jr. as Ray Bronson (Reprising)

Freddie Prinze Jr. also returns for his third screen appearance as Ray Bronson in the franchise, after starring in the first two films of I Know What You Did Last Summer.

Bronson is the love interest of Julie James in the franchise, but the couple has divorced by the time we see them in the 2025 film. In this film, Ray Bronson is shown to be a pub owner. And yes, there is a major, surprising character shift as well. In order to uncover that, you have to watch the movie!

In an interview with ScreenRant, Freddie Prinze Jr. talked about the changes his and Love Hewitt's characters go through in the 2025 film. Here is a small excerpt of the entire statement of the actor:

"Jen talked a lot about how the same trauma can hit two people completely differently. Depending on how you process it, how you deal with it, it can sort of make or break you. So in Julie's case, it makes her -- and in Ray's case, it breaks him."

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3) Jennifer Love Hewitt as Julie James (Reprising)

In the 2025 film, Jennifer Love Hewitt reprises her role as Julie James. Like Freddie Prinze. Jr. She, too, appeared in the role in the two initial films of the franchise before the 2025 film, including I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998).

In the 2025 film, Julie is seen working as a college professor.

One of Julie's iconic quotes in the franchise is:

"I have one question for you: Do you know what you did last summer?"

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4) Sarah Michelle Gellar as Helen Shivers (Cameo)

Who would have thought of Helen Shivers being back from the dead in the 2025 film? Well, that is the biggest surprise that has completely bewildered the audience.

Using visual effects tools, Sarah Michelle Gellar, in this cameo role, appears in a younger avatar as Helen Shivers during a scene when Danica's hallucination. Helen, in that pipe dream, appears to ridicule Danica. Last year, when Gellar was asked by People Magazine about her possible return to the 2025 film, the actor completely dismissed it as her character was dead. She further stated:

“My best friend [Jennifer Kaytin Robinson] is directing it, so we joke that I have an unofficial job, which is I am continuity,”

Adding:

“So I’m always the one telling her, ‘Well, that would happen, or that wouldn’t happen with those characters,’ so I do have kind of an unofficial job title.”

Are you excited to revisit your nostalgia in I Know What You Did Last Summer? Tell us in the comments!

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Also read: I Know What You Did Last Summer cast and character guide