Ryan Phillippe might not be done with I Know What You Did Last Summer just yet.
Although his character Barry Cox famously died in the original 1997 slasher hit, director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson has revealed she already has plans to bring Phillippe back — if a sequel to the latest installment moves forward.
While the new film features the return of franchise staples Jennifer Love Hewitt (Julie James) and Freddie Prinze Jr. (Ray Bronson), and even includes a brief cameo from Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Helen Shivers (despite her on-screen death), Phillippe’s Barry doesn’t appear. Still, fans might not have seen the last of him.
Speaking to PEOPLE, Robinson said, “We have a Barry Cox mention. He gets a shout-out. But yeah, it started to feel like too many ideas. But it is not for a lack of love of Ryan — he is amazing. And I do think there is a very fun way to integrate Ryan into a sequel that I hope happens.”
Phillippe, 50, has also weighed in on the franchise’s revival. In a light-hearted moment on the Just for Variety podcast, he reflected on his character’s early death:
“I feel like I made the wrong move dying in all of these projects… Now, I’m like, ‘What are you thinking? No, you want to live in case there’s more movies to be made.’”
While there are no official details yet on how the sequel could incorporate Barry Cox, Robinson’s comments suggest that the door is wide open for a creative comeback — possibly through flashbacks or even a meta-style twist.
For longtime fans of the franchise, the possibility of seeing all four original stars reunited on screen is sure to keep excitement alive as talks of a sequel continue.
