Madelyn Cline Reveals ‘Last Summer' Ending Was Shot One Month Before Release
Major, major spoilers for whoever hasn't seen 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' (the 2025 one) yet. Madelyn Cline, who portrays Danica Richards in the film, has a brutal would-be-death scene at the movie's climax. With Danica seemingly at the bottom of the ocean, it would appear that there was no coming back to the franchise for the 'Outer Banks' star. But instead, right at the end, Danica washes ashore. She's alive against all odds.
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In an interview with THR, released July 20 but conducted on June 28, Cline revealed that the ending was a last-minute revision. 'I only got the news that I was coming back about two-and-a-half weeks ago,' she said — meaning the scene was shot just about a month shy of the release.
Another added scene was a throughline that connected Danica to the original movie's Helen Shivers, portrayed again in a dream sequence by Sarah Michelle Gellar.
'That was not in the original script. I did not know that was happening,' Cline said. 'I was on the way home from a rehearsal, and [director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson] texted me that we were going to do it. And I was absolutely floored. Gobsmacked. I could not believe what was happening. She then sent me the sides and was like, 'What do you think?''And I said, 'I absolutely love them, but whatever. I don't care. The fact that we're doing this, write whatever you want. I'm in.''
Cline added that it 'only felt right' for Gellar to return. 'Also, almost every character in this movie gets to have the baton passed to them from an original cast member. It's just so iconic and so special to have that stamp of approval and to be ushered in as a next generation by Sarah Michelle,' she shared.
Cline said that Gellar wasn't remotely phased on set, and that she was 'cracking humor' all day. 'The whole family was there, and we shot it on a Saturday. So it kind of felt like an off day, but also an on day. It felt casual and really chill and very familial. But Sarah Michelle is, and has always been, a force,' Cline said.
Gellar told Variety that she was at first hesitant to do the cameo, which reunited her with 'Do Revenge' director Robinson. 'Jenn Robinson brought it up to me like three or four years ago – this has been a long process – I thought, 'It's such a good idea, but you don't know. Do people still love the movie? Do people still watch the movie?'' Gellar said. 'Jenn kept saying from the beginning to me, 'You have to do something… And I said, I'm dead. I'm dead. This isn't supernatural.' She was like, 'I'm gonna figure it out.' And she did and it was brilliant.'
While Gellar made the final cut, not every actor who worked on the film did: Both Lola Tung (of 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' fame) and Nicholas Alexander Chavez shot scenes for the film, but were trimmed out before the movie premiered.
'It happens. You shoot something and, when you watch the scene, it doesn't fit in the film,' Robinson told Variety of the cut cold open. While the director added that the actors were 'fantastic,' she said their sequence 'didn't work within the film that we were creating. And when you're trying to make something that's bold, sometimes that happens. But they are so fantastic, so it was definitely a hard choice.'
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