Everything we’ve learned about the new I Know What You Did Last Summer show
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Credit: Amazon
Fans of 90s slasher films are about to get an exciting new series based on a classic. An I Know What You Did Last Summer show is headed to Amazon Prime Video just in time for Halloween.
The new series will take a new approach to the story first filmed in 1997, which was itself based on a 1973 novel … and it’s produced by horror master James Wan (Saw, Insidious, The Conjuring, Malignant).
Before the I Know What You Did Last Summer show launches, here’s everything we know, from who’s involved, to when and where to watch it, to how it fits with the existing films.
And if you don’t already have Amazon Prime, you can hit the button below to sign up ahead of the I Know What You Did Last Summer premiere.
What is I Know What you Did Last Summer about?
I Know What You Did Last Summer is an adaptation of the 1973 novel of the same name by Lois Duncan. It’s also an adaptation of the 1997 teen slasher classic starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Ryan Phillipe.
The story follows a group of teens who accidentally run a young man over in their car while driving home from a party. Fearing what the event will do to their futures, the four friends vow to keep it a secret, fleeing the scene. But the following year, they begin receiving cryptic notes from someone who knows what they did and is hunting them one-by-one.
The 1997 film changes the identity of the killer, and makes the story follow more typical teen slasher conventions than the novel, like having the killer wear a rain coat and kill his victims with a hook. This was largely in line with Hollywood’s newfound interest in slashers following the success of the previous year’s Scream. (I Know What You Did Last Summer was even written by Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson.)
The new I Know What You Did Last Summer show
It’s not clear how much the new series will stick to the book or film as its primary source material.
I Know What You Did Last Summer will revisit a familiar premise with some new twists.
According to Amazon, “I Know What You Did Last Summer is a modern take on the hit 1997 horror film that honors the same chilling premise… One year after the fatal car accident that haunted their graduation night, a group of teenagers find themselves bound together by a dark secret and stalked by a brutal killer. As they try to piece together who’s after them, they reveal the dark side of their seemingly perfect town — and themselves. Everyone is hiding something, and uncovering the wrong secret could be deadly.”
One new twist to the story will be the way the mystery of the killer hunting the teens is handled. “Every episode has a different point of view of what happened that night, before the accident,” said showrunner Sara Goodman during Amazon’s Comic-Con@Home panel. “[That] will make it much harder to figure out who’s after them.”
When and where can you watch it?
The I Know What You Did Last Summer show will premiere exclusively on Amazon Prime Video worldwide in over 240 countries and territories.
The first four episodes of the eight-episode season will be available all at once on October 15. The remaining four episodes will roll out weekly the following Fridays.
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The season finale is set for November 12.
Amazon has not yet revealed whether a second season is planned.
Who’s involved?
Below is a list of the stars of the I Know What You Did Last Summer show, along with the characters they’ll be playing:
- Madison Iseman as Lennon/Allison
- Bill Heck as Bruce
- Brianne Tju as Margot
- Ezekiel Goodman as Dylan
- Ashley Moore as Riley
- Sebastian Amoruso as Johnny
- Fiona Rene as Lyla
- Cassie Beck as Courtney
- Brooke Bloom as Clara
The series is written by showrunner Sara Goodman. Goodman executive produces alongside Neal H. Moritz and Pavun Shetty, Erik Feig, Peter Guber, Atomic Monster’s James Wan, Michael Clear, and Rob Hackett, Craig William Macneill, and Shay Hatten.
Read: Review of Slasher on Shudder
Craig William Macneill directed the first episode, but Amazon has not yet revealed directors for the other seven episodes.
I Know What You Did Last Summer is produced by Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures Television.
How does the I Know What You Did Last Summer series fit into the film franchise?
The 1997 I Know What You Did Last Summer already spawned two sequels.
Just one year after the original’s release, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer came out. In it, Julie, who survived the events of the first film, wins an all-inclusive trip to a resort in Brazil. But she quickly realizes that the resort is a trap once she arrives. The killer is back and ready to finish what he started. The sequel wasn’t anywhere near as successful as the original, but still, another entry in the franchise was greenlit (much later) in 2006.
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The direct-to-video I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer barely qualifies as a sequel. With an entirely new cast, the film sees completely different characters hunted by a hooked killer after they cover up an accidental death. The killer is the same, but this is effectively a remake of the earlier film in a new setting.
A new approach
The new I Know What You Did Last Summer series is a franchise reboot. Based on Amazon’s official statements, it shouldn’t take place in the same narrative universe as the previous films. Instead, it tells the same story in a new way.
“I’ve put little Easter eggs throughout the season for those diehard fans,” said Sara Goodman, but the show exists on its own and doesn’t require any previous knowledge of the films.
Goodman also hinted that the series will try to break away from some slasher tropes. “The novel was of its time, and the movie was very much of its time, and I wanted to make a show that’s of this time. And so, no one is just a jock. No one is just a smart girl. No one is just a bitch. People are really layered, and everyone has different pieces of themselves they show to different people at different times. They’re much more diverse, and more complicated, and I think the cast is very much representative of those deeper, layered characters.”
That’s what we know about I Know What You Did Last Summer, coming to Amazon Prime Video in October.
If you want to check it out but don’t have Amazon Prime yet, you can click the link below to sign up.