I Know What You Did Last Summer director "tried relentlessly" and pitched "some crazy sh*t" to try to get Sarah Michelle Gellar back for the sequel

This week, we got our first glimpse at the new I Know What You Did Last Summer movie, ingeniously titled I Know What You Did Last Summer, via a brand new trailer. The latest film follows a fresh new bunch of teens who find themselves in a spot of bother after a hit and run, only to learn that the following year the victim might well be alive and bent on getting even. Besides a new cast comprised of Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, and Jonah Hauer-King as the newcomers to the franchise, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt are also reprising their roles as Ray Bronson and Julie James, respectively.

Unfortunately, one cast member from the original 1997 movie who won't be returning will be Sarah Michelle Gellar, due to getting brutally killed off in the first film. It wasn't for lack of trying, though, as writer-director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson made some pretty wild attempts to retcon Shivers' shuffling off her mortal coil and even made pleas with the star herself to return.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Robinson revealed that honest conversations were had with Gellar about somehow making a comeback in the upcoming horror, with the matter of death being something that could be easily addressed. “I tried, okay? I harassed her! But she is dead,” Robinson confessed. “I tried to pitch some crazy shit too. I was like, ‘What if it’s like you weren’t dead and you’re actually alive, but in hiding?’ And Sarah’s like, ‘I was on ice. I was the most dead a person could be. You can see my frozen body.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, but what if?’ And she said, ‘I am dead. I am Sarah Dead Gellar.’”

While franchises like Scream have managed to play around with deceased characters by having Skeet Ulrich's Billy Loomis speaking to Melissa Barrera's Sam Carpenter in her subconscious, there's really no logical way to bring Shivers back into the fold, no matter what plane she might appear on. For now, we can only wait and see if the other survivors of that nightmarish summer make it out of this one when I Know What You Did Last Summer hits theaters on July 18. Also be sure to stab your calendar with some other horrors heading our way this year by checking out our list here.