'I Know What You Did Last Summer' direction explains controversial ending

I Know What You Did Last Summer has left fans surprised with a major plot twist.

Now, the director of the series Jennifer Kaytin Robinson has explained about the controversial ending.

Speaking with People Magazine, Jennifer, who co-wrote the sequel with Sam Lansky, said, “Do I think people might not like it? Sure.”

Spoiler alert: In IKWYDLS sequel one of the killers is revealed to be Ray Bronson, played by Freddie Prinze Jr. since 1997.

Jennifer said, “But I think for me, it was always about if you're going to do this, take a swing. Just take a swing. Listen, if not everybody likes it, that's okay. Because I think we need more movies that you can argue about in the car on the ride home.”

Moreover, Freddie also went on to share that he and Jennifer “talked a lot about reasons why” Ray became killer and what “trauma can do and how the same trauma can affect people so differently.”

“It can make you or it can break you. And what happens if it breaks you? What does that do? How do you react to situations? There's going to definitely be people that freak out. But I have to make this movie because I believe in the choices that the character's making, not necessarily the ones that other people may see as what they want, what their wish fulfillment is. I have to see it and believe it,” Freddie said.

He added further, “I love what they've done with Ray. Jen Robinson and Sam Lansky put so much time into Ray and Julie, and they’re such a driving force in this film that people will get what they're looking for out of these characters.”

“You'll get to see who Ray was, and you'll get to see who Ray is, and you'll get to figure out what happened in between.”

Moreover, Jennifer Love Hewitt, who also reprises her role as Julie James, ex-wife of Ray, expressed her surprise over the decision about Freddie’s character.

“I think it makes sense. If you really look at who he was in the movies, it makes sense,” she said.

Adding, “He was always this tortured, dark kind of kid who wasn't really sure about how he felt about Southport and his place there and what that all meant, and he carried his own stuff, obviously from the road that night and everything.”

I Know What You Did Last Summer, featuring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt reprise their roles, was released on July 17, 2025.