This interview was originally published on 10/11/21.
We are just a few days away from the release of the first four episodes of Amazon Prime and Sony Pictures Television’s highly anticipated horror series I Know What You Did Last Summer. One year after a fatal car accident that took place on their graduation night, the same group finds themselves bound together by their dark secret while being stalked by a brutal killer. As the group tries to piece together who might be after them, they uncover that their seemingly perfect town has a rather dark side. Revealing the wrong secret might just lead to their death. I recently got the chance to chat with showrunner Sara Goodman about the series and how she feels about bringing a beloved horror franchise back to life.
The first four episodes of I Know What You Did Last Summer drops on Amazon Prime on October 15, 2021.
This interview has been condensed for clarity.
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Interview with Sara Goodman
Julia Roth: How are you, Sara?
Sara Goodman: Good and how are you? So nice to meet you!
JR: I’m doing well, so nice to meet you too! I Know What You Did Last Summer is one of my favorite movies from my youth and still is. It is such an iconic franchise. Out of all the horror movies out there, what made you pick this one to turn into a series?
SG: They offered it to me. Amazon and Sony own the property and they came to me. I, as well, love the movie and I actually love the original novel (Lois Duncan). I felt like it was time to bring a different version for this time period. We can do it as a series and explore the characters more. We can also explore what it means to keep a secret in 2021, which is very different from what it meant in 1997. I was incredibly honored to be asked to do it.
JR: Wonderful! So you talk about the updates and I have watched the first four episodes and you guys did such a fantastic job. I watched a few episodes with my son who is 16 and he was able to connect to things that made me think, ‘am I really that old?’ This makes it 100% better because I felt such a connection to the original movie. What changes did you make that you knew had to happen?
SG: I think it had to exist for people who love the movie and people who have never heard of the movie. Pretty much everyone has heard of the title, even if they have never seen the movie. I did think the characters needed to be updated and to just be more of this time. They were amazing at that time. I think the struggles that kids have, the world we live in with social media, everyone’s struggle with identity and their public persona, and how kids interact with each other. I think all of that was very important to take a different kind of a look at.
JR: Now, this series is very different from the movie and novel. It still has the same themes, like the group being stalked and events that take place, but there are a lot of changes. One is the place in which the series takes place. The I Know What You Did Last Summer tv series is set in Hawaii. I always feel like, with these kinds of stories, the people should just leave town.
SG: Exactly, this time, there is no way out. There is no way off the island. For me, Hawaii is so beautiful and its paradise. And at the same time, there is one way out and one way in. There are also these parts of Hawaii that we don’t get to see, the caves and the bamboo forests that you can’t find your way out of. It also has this feeling of suffocation and isolation at the same time. I think this is something that kids struggle with right now, where their parents know everything and the people around them know everything. But they are also isolated and can’t escape. It felt like metaphorically and literally; it really served the story.
JR: It really makes a lot of sense! Thank you so much for chatting with me!
SG: Thank you and you too!
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