'I Know What You Did Last Summer' is back. How does the original tie into the new movie?

Is director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson’s new slasher I Know What You Did Last Summer a reboot of the 1997 original or a sequel? To borrow a term from 2022’s Scream, it’s a “requel” — that is, something in between. Which means you’ll see some legacy characters in addition to fresh faces, and once again, everyone’s life is threatened by a slasher in a fisherman’s slicker.

Hooked yet? Warning: Major spoilers for the movie ahead.

The 1997 movie of the same name, loosely based on Lois Duncan’s novel, follows a group of friends in Southport, N.C., who commit a hit-and-run and are stalked by the person they thought they had killed — a man named Ben Willis (Muse Watson). The original movie starred Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar, all of whom return for the new film. (Yes, even Gellar, whose character, Helen Shivers, didn’t survive the first movie.)

But don’t think these old characters are just here for nostalgia: While a new generation of actors drives the action, the stars of the first film show that the past is far from buried.

A new crew — and a new crime

The new film follows a group of 20-something friends, led by Ava (Chase Sui Wonders). Ava is back in the touristy seaside town of Southport for the engagement party of best friends Danica (Madelyn Cline) and Teddy (Tyriq Withers), which is tough because she is still harboring feelings for her high school boyfriend and best man, Milo (Jonah Hauer-King). Rounding out the crew is Stevie (Sarah Pidgeon), a high school friend who lost touch with the gang after a scandal involving her father led her down a dark path.

After the engagement party, the crew decides to go to the coastal “Reaper’s Road” to watch the Fourth of July fireworks. Teddy, however, gets too high and starts fooling around in the middle of the street. Teddy’s actions cause a speeding car to swerve, leading it to plummet down the side of the mountain with the driver alive inside. Instead of going to help, or even waiting for the cops to show up, Danica and Teddy — whose father is a real estate developer and ultra powerful in Southport — convince the group to leave.

So, yeah. That is what this group “did last summer.”

One year later, Ava still carries guilt about what happened. But when she returns to Southport the following summer, the real trouble begins: People close to the group are getting murdered, and as threatening notes tease, it’s connected back to that car accident.

A familiar face reluctantly returns to help

So how does the original crew, who experienced a very similar situation back in the ’90s, come into play? They act as mentor-like characters to their younger counterparts … but with a twist.

Hewitt’s character, Julie James, the original film’s final girl, is now a professor at a nearby college, teaching students about PTSD and how trauma can sometimes turn you into an entirely different person. (This will come back later!) When Ava learns that Julie survived the murder spree that mirrors the one happening now (twice, actually!), she turns to Julie for advice on how to make it out alive.

Julie suggests figuring out how the person they (sort of, kind of) killed in that car last summer ties back to the murders that are happening now, sending the gang on a mission to connect the dots.

… And then, there’s Ray

Along the way, the gang is (seemingly) helped by another OG Summer character: Ray, played by Prinze, who is now Stevie’s boss at a local restaurant where she works. Fans of the original movie will recognize him as Julie’s boyfriend and a fellow survivor of the “1997 Southport massacre.” Except now, Ray is Julie’s ex-husband, and they’re not on the best terms. He scolds Julie for trying to help Ava but also for suppressing their past trauma and leaving Southport.

At first it seems like Ray is aiding Ava and her friends in solving the mystery of who the new "fisherman killer" is. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. In the final moments of the movie, it’s revealed that Ray’s trauma from 1997 really has changed him: He’s been working with Stevie this entire time to kill off the group.

Stevie was close with the guy who died in the car accident that night, hence her need for revenge, but Ray had a different motive: He’s pissed off that the world forgot what happened to him and his friends, so he helped Stevie re-create the murders to make everyone remember.

Fortunately, Julie’s still a final girl: She rescues Ava from Ray just in time, and Ava kills Ray with a harpoon.

Helen Shivers forever!

Gellar (who, fun fact, is married to Prinze in real life!) played Helen Shivers in the original movie. Her character, a beauty queen, has long been a fan favorite — mostly for her infamous death sequence — and though she can’t literally return to Southport, she can in spirit.

It’s clear that Cline’s character, Danica (also a Croaker Queen, IYKYK!), is the modern-day version of Helen, which is why it’s Danica who interacts with her directly in the movie — albeit in a dream sequence. Unfortunately, it’s not a happy dream: Helen tells Danica she is going to die in the creepiest way possible.

Stick around for the post-credits for one more fan favorite

If you were wondering how the I Know What You Did Last Summer sequels would come into play, you’re in luck: The movie brings in a character from the second film, in a post-credits scene that sets up another possible sequel.

The scene shows Brandy, who played Julie’s college roommate Karla in the 1998 sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer — and was also stalked and nearly murdered by the killer from the first two original films — watching the Southport news at home with her husband. Then there’s a knock on the door: It’s Julie! Julie and Karla hug, but Julie isn’t here for pleasantries: She got a threatening letter accompanied by a photo with Karla’s face crossed out. It seems these two women will have to team up once more in order to take down another killer.