Sarah Michelle Gellar surprised by her nanny at ‘IKWYDLS’ screening

This article contains minor spoilers about the new I Know What You Did Last Summer movie.

Sarah Michelle Gellar surprised a packed screening of I Know What You Did Last Summer — and spotted a very familiar face in the crowd.

To mark the opening of the horror sequel, Gellar and director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson surprised an unsuspecting crowd. Decked out in matching “HELEN SHIVERS” T-shirts — the name of the beauty queen that Gellar played in the original 1997 slasher — the duo walked out to greet the audience.

“I’m Jenn Robinson, director and co-writer, and I don’t know if you know who this is — she’s a brand new actor, Sarah Michelle Gellar,” Robinson quipped, as captured in an Instagram video. She then thanked the crowd for attending the film’s opening weekend before advising: “Do not leave before the credits are done. Stay.”

Robinson then turned to Gellar, adding, “And you never know who you’re gonna see in this movie.”

“Could be anyone,” joked the actress. “Enjoy the movie.”

As the pair turned to leave, a voice called out from the crowd: “Sarah, I’m your nanny.”

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum turned, locked eyes with the speaker, and exclaimed, “Oh my God!”

Laughing, she pointed across the theater and told the crowd, “That really is my nanny.” The video concluded with Gellar embracing her nanny before exiting the theater.

Gellar, who shares two children with her husband and fellow franchise star Freddie Prinze Jr, said in October 2024 that she was not returning for the legacy sequel, which is helmed by her real-life friend and Do Revenge director Robinson.

“I am dead,” Gellar said simply, referring to the fact that her character was murdered by the Fisherman in the original film.

Robinson reiterated this while speaking to Entertainment Weekly earlier this year, claiming that she approached the actress about reprising her role only to be shut down.

“I tried to pitch some crazy s— too. I was like, ‘What if it’s like you weren’t dead and you’re actually alive, but in hiding?,'” she recalled. “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.'”

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Despite all the protest, Gellar does appear briefly in the new film. She dons her classic Croaker Queen outfit and appears to Madelyn Cline’s Danica in a dream. Robinson has since told PEOPLE that Gellar’s return was always in the cards: “As a super fan of this franchise, I was never not going to put Helen Shivers in the movie. And I didn’t lie — she is dead.”

Like the original, 2025′s I Know What You Did Last Summer follows a group of teenagers — Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Sarah Pidgeon, Tyriq Withers, and Jonah Hauer-King — who are stalked by a mysterious stranger who knows all about the awful mistake they made a year prior. But this time, the teens can call upon the guidance of Julie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and Ray (Prinze), who have lived through a similar tragedy.