‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ Surprise Cameo Was a “Surreal” Moment for Actor, 48

Well I Know What You Did Last Summer fans, she got us. And, while we’d usually be upset to have been gotten during the movie’s premiere weekend, we have nothing but the utmost gratitude and respect for director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, who managed to keep the most hoped-for cameo under wraps. After literal months of telling journalists that Sarah Michelle Gellar would not be coming back from the dead to reprise her role as Helen Shivers from the original 1997 movie of the same name, the helmer and co-writer not only found a way to do it, but perfectly fit it into the storyline. The beloved Croaker Queen rose from the dead in a fully tasteful way during a dream sequence during which Madelyn Cline’s Danica Richards found herself communing with her fellow beauty queen and learning a thing or two about outrunning the past.

During a chat with Variety, Gellar spilled the tea about how she came to be part of the movie, which also featured performances from fellow legacy characters, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. Revealing just how long the cameo had been in the works, Gellar said,

“Jenn Robinson brought it up to me like three or four years ago – this has been a long process – I thought, ‘It’s such a good idea, but you don’t know. Do people still love the movie? Do people still watch the movie?’”

During the onslaught of questions from fans and press about Gellar’s potential return (and the return of Brandy Norwood’s Karla, which was also carried out during a post-credits scene), Robinson promised that she had done everything in her power to see the Buffy the Vampire Slayer star’s return. And, technically, she wasn’t lying, because she really worked her butt off to deliver audiences the applause-worthy moment, with Gellar continuing,

“Jenn kept saying from the beginning to me, ‘You have to do something.’ And I said, ‘I’m dead. I’m dead. This isn’t supernatural.’ She was like, ‘I’m gonna figure it out.’ And she did and it was brilliant.”

Source: Variety