Freddie Prinze Jr. says he is hoping to return for the I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel and is working on closing a deal to reprise his role.
Sitting down with ET’s Nischelle Turner to chat about his new movie, The Girl in the Pool, the 48-year-old actor provided fans with an update on where negotiations are and whether or not he will be returning for the recently announced follow-up to the 1997 horror classic. In February 2023, ET confirmed that Sony Pictures was in the early stages of development on a project that would hopefully see the return of Prinze Jr.’s Ray Bronson and Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Julie James.
The original film follows four young friends — Prinze Jr. and Hewitt, included — bound by a tragic accident who are reunited when they find themselves being stalked by a hook-wielding maniac in their small seaside town. The sequel, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, was released a year later, in 1998. The actor tells ET that he is still at the table and working on it for the fans.
“I think both sides — them and me — are super motivated to get it done. My friend is directing the movie,” he said of director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, who wrote and directed 2022’s Do Revenge, which Sarah Michelle Gellar — Prinze Jr.’s wife of 22 years — starred in. Additionally, writer Leah McKendrick has been tapped to pen the script for the new IKWYDLS movie, Deadline reported in 2023. Prinze Jr. says he is motivated even more so by his relationship with Robison. “She was the one to talk to me a year ago before the studio was even talking was like, ‘Would you –would you please do this?'”
The live-action Scooby-Doo star added, “Negotiations are weird. One week they’re going great and the next week they’re going awful. We haven’t had an awful week so there could be an awful week [coming]. I have no idea but I really don’t get too involved in it until a contract is signed.”
That being said, there is hope still that the talks could result in a productive and positive resolution. According to Prinze Jr., the negotiations are bolstered by the strong script — which he can’t share anything about. “I read a script, I probably shouldn’t have said that but, yeah, I read a script,” the actor shared.
As for where his character, Ray Bronson, would be today, Prinze Jr. says he can’t share much of anything, even his opinion on what Ray’s life looks like now nearly three decades later.
“I don’t want to get into character and story ’cause that would ruin it for a lot of people and I hate [that],” he said. “I don’t even watch trailers — I hate spoiling movies.”
Hypothetically speaking, though, he does have thoughts on whether or not he and Julie (Hewitt) would still be surviving and thriving today. In I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Julie and Ray reconcile and wind up getting engaged and marrying — finally finding their happy ending after surviving horror after horror. Prinze Jr. says he is not so sure that the trauma bond between the young couple would have been strong enough to sustain a decades-long relationship and marriage.
“I mean, they went through a pretty traumatic experience. If they were able to survive that and stay together they’d be a better couple than me and my wife in real life,” he said, laughing.
In May, ET sat down with Hewitt, 45, who spilled all the details (or at least the ones she knows) and explained why she is terrified about returning for a third movie in the franchise. According to the 9-1-1 actress, the fear stems from it being “26 years later.”
Even with the fear, Hewitt said that, should the third movie moving forward, she’s ready to bring Julie “back with 26 years of angst, knowledge, kickassery, which I’m turning into a word, and have some fun.”
We think it’s time for her to put her fear aside and get to work! Same thing with Prinze Jr. — they’re sure to kill it!
As for Prinze Jr.’s current project, The Girl in the Pool, the actor told ET that after many years away from the horror-thriller genre, he decided that it was this movie that would mark his triumphant return. The film also stars Parenthood alum Monica Potter — who the She’s All That actor previously worked with on 2001’s Head Over Heels — as well as Kevin Pollack and Brielle Barbusca.
The Girl in the Pool follows Prinze Jr. as Thomas, a husband who is forced to endure a surprise party thrown for him by his wife and kids just moments after hiding the murdered body of his mistress at his house. Potter, 53, stars as Thomas’ wife.
The actor says that he was intrigued by the concept of the movie and the unique script, which tackled a dark and deeply unfunny topic in a comical way.
“The script was really weird — I saw all this dark humor in it and the director and I were really nervous that no one would laugh because it’s a thriller at its heart but it had all these opportunities for this dark, weird, humor because the stakes are here,” he said. “It’s equal [parts] absurd and seriousness.”
“I’ve never read a script where the protagonist makes only bad decisions and you’re still supposed to care,” he said. “It’s a lot, he screws up a lot.”
The role was a delicious challenge for the veteran actor who said he found it thrilling (pun intended) to break out of the mold that he is often cast in.
“Actors get excited for that kind of stuff, ’cause, you know, usually the roles that I play, they were perfect guys that make all the right decisions and you love them for that. So when you get an opportunity to be the exact opposite of what you’ve always been, any actor would be excited,” he shared.
Watch a trailer for the film in the player below:
The Girl in the Pool is in theaters and on-demand now.
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