Jennifer Love Hewitt credits Jamie Lee Curtis with 'paving the way' for horror comeback

Jennifer Love Hewitt credits Jamie Lee Curtis with "paving the way" for her to return to the I Know What You Did Last Summer franchise.

The actress played Julie James in the first two films of the teen slasher horror franchise in 1997 and 1998, and she is set to return after 27 years in the upcoming sequel, also titled I Know What You Did Last Summer.

She follows a line of iconic scream queens who have returned to their franchises many years later, such as Curtis with Halloween and Neve Campbell with Scream.

In an interview with Extra, Hewitt credited her House Arrest co-star Curtis with paving the way for actresses to return as legacy characters in horror revivals or reboots.

"I mean, Jamie Lee Curtis... paved the way for all of us to be able to do 119 of these and continue doing them into our 60s and still be bada*ses," Hewitt praised. "(Curtis) deserves all the credit. Like, it's so cool, and the rest of us just get to follow."

Curtis made her acting debut as Laurie Strode in 1978's Halloween and reprised the character for three sequels between 1981 and 2002. After a long break, she returned for a new trilogy - Halloween, Halloween Kills and Halloween Ends - between 2018 and 2022.

Hewitt added that she was also "so psyched" for Campbell's comeback as Sidney Prescott in Scream 7. Campbell played the character in the original Scream franchise between 1996 and 2011 and appeared in the 2022 revival.

"All the people in these franchises who are... coming back and doing these things. It's really cool," Hewitt noted.

I Know What You Did Last Summer stars Hewitt, her returning co-star Freddie Prinze Jr. and younger newcomers including Madelyn Cline and Chase Sui Wonders. It will be released in cinemas on 18 July.