Los Angeles, April 24 (IANS) The director of the sequel of ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ “tried relentlessly” to pursue her in order to bring actress Sarah Michelle Gellar back for the sequel.

Writer and director Jennifer Kaytin Robinson admitted she did everything she could to convince Gellar to return for the sequel but they could not move beyond the fact that her alter-ego Helen Shivers died in the original movie, reports ‘Female First UK’.

Jennifer told Entertainment Weekly, “I tried, okay? I harassed her! But she is dead. 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?’ 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’”.

However, Sarah Michelle’s original co-stars, her husband Freddie Prinze Jr and Jennifer Love Hewitt, are returning for the sequel.

As per ‘Female First UK’, the film also stars Madelyn Cline, Chase Sui Wonders, Lola Tung, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Austin Nichols, Sarah Pidgeon, Tyriq Withers, Jonah Hauer-King, Billy Campbell and Gabbriette.

Speaking previously about the movie, Sarah Michelle insisted she would not return but vowed to help out on set.

She told ‘People’ magazine, “I am dead. My best friend [Robinson] is directing it, so we joke that I have an unofficial job, which is I am continuity. So I'm always the one telling her, 'Well, that would happen, or that wouldn't happen with those characters', so I do have kind of an unofficial job title”.

“Jen's put together such an amazing cast, and I'm so happy and excited for all of them. I will be there with moral support behind the camera”, she added.