Vampires, monologues, and adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe are among the ever-growing list of films and TV shows by director Mike Flanagan. As one of the famous horror filmmakers working today, he juggled the difficult balance of blending Stanley Kubrick and Stephen King for Doctor Sleep, a sequel to The Shining, and soon, he will bring his vision to new versions of The Exorcist and Carrie. But of the big horror properties that Flanagan has done, he almost made a remake of I Know What You Did Last Summer. Along with his frequent writing partner, Flanagan’s script was drastically different from the upcoming legacy sequel, yet it embraced two key elements: the return of the Fisherman and Jennifer Love Hewitt.
What Made Mike Flanagan Interested in Doing a Remake of This ‘90s Slasher?
The horror franchise, I Know What You Did Last Summer, ended with a disappointing direct-to-video sequel in 2006. In the following years, there were horror remakes of classics, the rise of the Splat Pack, and in 2014, Mike Flanagan and his writing partner Jeff Howard were approached to give a pitch for what their remake of IKWYDLS would be. There were still some years before the blockbuster success of 2018’s Halloween that made Hollywood pay attention to the legacy sequel formula. Rather than a fan-service return to form, Flanagan and Howard wanted to write something new that honored the original 1997 slasher.
Speaking to Bloody Disgusting about the early plans for this remake, Howard explained the project truly started to get its hooks into Flanagan and himself when they learned about the creative freedom they could get. He recalled that the studio told them, “As long as it thematically fits in with the title and that kind of world, you can just make up whatever you want.” Once they didn’t have restrictions, the director and writer got excited to create a story that would have what made the original slasher fun while avoiding retreading what audiences have seen.
The Fisherman Would Have Returned Before the 2025 Remake of ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’
The script for this unmade horror film centers on a young man who is unable to remember what happened that caused the disappearance of a young woman. He was imprisoned for her apparent death but freed when proven innocent, and in the aftermath of returning to his old life, the Fisherman enters. It wouldn’t have been the same killer from the first movie, but someone new wearing the black slicker and a hook wouldn’t be the only weapon of choice. One creative kill that Howard talked about used LED solar lights. Although it would have an entirely new cast with a true crime angle to be the catalyst, Jennifer Love Hewitt could have returned before the 2025 reboot. She wouldn’t have played her OG final girl, Julie James; her role would have been a new character that Howard explained was bigger than a cameo.
The planned remake got as far as a completed script and the pitch for it when the project soon fell apart. The studio wanted the script’s final twist changed, which had been a major source of excitement for Howard and Flanagan. Rewriting that much darker ending (Howard never spoiled it) is what caused the director-writer team to lose interest, and the studio followed. Around the time in 2014 when the project was still active, Flanagan had not yet directed the major horror hits in his career. There was no Haunting of Hill House yet. If there had been, it’s possible it would have given him an extra boost of support to see his remake of IKWYDLS happen. It would have been a departure from the supernatural horror Flanagan and Howard mostly worked on together.
‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ Is Finally Embracing a Legacy Sequel
Between 2013 and 2017, the Flanagan-Howard duo partnered on Oculus, which turned a mirror into a monster; survivor of development hell, Before I Wake, the prequel that fixed the problems of its predecessor, Ouija: Origin of Evil; and the Stephen King adaptation, Gerald’s Game. None of these are slashers. When Flanagan worked with his wife, Kate Siegel, in 2016 on Hush, that became the closest Flanagan had gotten to his version of a slasher. It could leave horror fans wondering how 2014’s IKWYDLS could have been received with its lack of nostalgia. In 2017, Bloody Disgusting checked in with Flanagan for potential updates, but he had none, except to clarify that he “was never attached to direct—Jeff and I were only responsible for the script.”
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Two of Mike Flanagan’s Frequent Collaborators Just Joined His ‘Carrie’ Series
The two previously starred together in ‘Midnight Mass.’
Although the franchise didn’t get a remake for the big screen, it eventually got revived for Amazon Prime as a series with the promising news that James Wan was in talks to direct the episodes. Those plans didn’t go through, but the Prime series did get made and continued what the failed 2014 remake attempted. In a larger departure than the Flanagan-Howard script, the series left out the signature appearance of the Fisherman for its mysterious killer. It was canceled after one season, and with the success of horror revivals like Halloween, the IKWYDLS franchise has accepted a path forward. The potential remake in 2014 of the Prime series tried to distance itself from the 1997 film. The upcoming I Know What You Did Last Summer is following the legacy sequel formula, and that might be what is needed to have the Fisherman come out swinging like no time has passed.
I Know What You Did Last Summer
- Release Date
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July 18, 2025
- Runtime
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100 minutes
- Director
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Jennifer Kaytin Robinson
- Writers
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Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, Sam Lansky
- Producers
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Neal H. Moritz
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Madelyn Cline
Danica Richards
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Chase Sui Wonders
Ava Brucks
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Jonah Hauer-King
Milo Griffin
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Tyriq Withers
Teddy Spencer
