I Know What You Did Last Summer writer-director Jenn Kaytin Robinson wanted Sarah Michelle Gellar to return for the legacy sequel just as badly as the fans, if not more.
"I tried, okay? I harassed her!" Robinson revealed during a new interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Alas, it wasn't meant to be. According to the filmmaker, Gellar was adamant that her character, Helen Shivers, was dead, telling Robinson, "I am dead. I am Sarah Dead Gellar."
To Gellar's credit, bringing Helen back in any meaningful way would be next to impossible. Her character's dead body is shown frozen on ice, another fact the actress made sure to remind Robinson of. Despite that, the director did say she pitched some "crazy s---," including the possibility of Helen being in hiding all this time.
Unless Gellar pulled a Ringer twin twist at some point between 1997 and the new movie, that wouldn't work either. But Helen's memory will live on. Her photo briefly appears in the new trailer. Helen/Gellar also got one of the most iconic chase sequences in horror history in the original movie, so she's certainly made an indelible mark.
And Robinson made sure to say that the movie is "kind of like a throwback." Fans eager for a dose of nostalgia won't be disappointed.
Besides Gellar, Robinson tried to get Maya Hawke involved in the slasher. The duo previously worked together on Robinson's film Do Revenge, a movie in which Gellar also starred.
Even though the Buffy the Vampire Slayer actress might not be returning for the fourth I Know What You Did Last Summer movie, we will see Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr. back in their roles as Julie James and Ray Bronson.
Funnily enough, Prinze Jr. and Gellar are also married in real life, so, in a way, she's part of the new movie in spirit.
Sarah Michelle Gellar lands a role in another slasher
Gellar might not be returning for I Know What You Did Last Summer, but she's far from being done with the horror genre. It was recently revealed that the actress had been cast in the highly-anticipated sequel to Ready or Not, titled Ready or Not: Here I Come.
Samara Weaving is back to lead the cast and will be joined by Gellar, Kathryn Newton, David Cronenberg, Elijah Wood, and more familiar faces.
Not only that but Gellar is also expected to return for the second season of the Dexter prequel series Original Sin, where she plays the role of CSI Chief Tanya Martin.
The actress is also involved in the planned Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot.