All about the rising stars

Chase Sui Wonders as Ava Brucks

Chase Sui Wonders currently stars on the Emmy-nominated Apple TV+ Hollywood satire The Studio (2025–present), in which she plays a striving junior executive.

She first turned heads in the ensemble of HBO’s short-lived Generations (2021), which led to roles in the buzzy film Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) and the Apple TV+ series City on Fire (2023).

Wonders leads the cast of naughty teens as Ava, who returns to Southport to celebrate the engagement of her best pal.

“It’s a continuation of this iconic story, and it’s fun and campy and smart,” she told L’Officiel. “I play an all-American girl who has a really strong moral code, and although she is very damaged and has some demons, she’s the glue of her friend group. I’m just grateful that [director] Jen [Kaytin Robinson] took a chance on me, because I didn’t see girls like me leading those kinds of movies growing up. And it’s not like I have 20 million Instagram followers, either.”

Madelyn Cline as Danica Richards

Rising star Madelyn Cline began her career in a Chuck E. Cheese commercial, but her career began in earnest with early roles on Stranger Things (2017) and the Joel Edgerton film Boy Erased (2018), starring Nicole Kidman.

The actress achieved international success by playing Sarah Cameron on Netflix’s hit Outer Banks (2020–present), which helped land her a role in the star-studded ensemble of Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022).

Next up for Cline is a starring role opposite Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz in Marc Webb’s Day Drinker.

Cline helps lead I Know What You Did Last Summer as Danica, one of the teens involved in the fatal cover-up.

EW’s critic declared Cline’s character to be “far and away the best thing here,” saying she’s “genuinely hilarious as the snotty-but-lovable Danica; she has a terrific horror movie scream, and during the one or two moments in which the film requires some bona fide dramatic acting out of her, she nails it.”

Tyriq Withers as Teddy Spencer

Tyriq Withers, a former college football player, made a splash in Atlanta‘s memorable season 3 episode “Rich Wigga, Poor Wigga.” Following that, he appeared on the Hulu series Tell Me Lies (2022) and the 2024 remake of Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead.

The actor will next lead the cast of Him, a horror film about football players produced by Get Out director Jordan Peele.

Withers plays Teddy, Ava’s boyfriend and the son of a local real estate developer. “Something I can share about Teddy is he makes sense,” the actor teased in a chat with Interview Magazine. When asked to elaborate, he stated, “Do with that information what you will.”

Sarah Pidgeon as Stevie Ward

Sarah Pidgeon is an alum of Amazon Prime’s The Wilds (2020–2022) and Hulu’s Emmy-nominated series Tiny Beautiful Things (2023), not to mention a Tony nominee for theatrical sensation Stereophonic (2023–2024), starring in both its Off-Broadway and Broadway runs.

Her next project is bound to make waves. She’ll soon lead Ryan Murphy’s American Love Story, an FX limited series in which Pidgeon stars as Carolyn Bessette, wife of John F. Kennedy Jr.

Pidgeon plays Stevie, a working-class friend of the central teens who works with Freddie Prinze Jr.’s Ray.

“What’s cool about horror is that there are so many genres inside of it,” Pidgeon said in an interview with i-d. “There can be romance, there can be horror or comedy. There’s drama. I think especially for IKWYDLS, it’s about the big kills, but within that, there’s so much opportunity to have character development and laughs. The stakes are so huge that it allows for more things to exist within it, versus, some genres of film that are played really close to the chest and are very intimate.”

Jonah Hauer-King as Milo Griffin

Jonah Hauer-King rose to prominence as the Prince Eric to Halle Bailey’s Ariel in 2023’s The Little Mermaid.

Before that, Hauer-King starred in several BBC series, including a leading role in BBC One’s war drama World on Fire (2019–2023). He also appeared in films such as A Dog’s Way Home (2019) and This Is the Night (2021).

He’ll next star opposite Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson in A House of Dynamite, the latest film from The Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow.

Hauer-King plays Milo, Ava’s ex-boyfriend. Speaking with Collider, the actor praised how the filmmakers maintained continuity between the new film and the original.

“It’s about 30 years later, and a lot of the vibe is there, but I think also with the new young cast and with Jen Kaytin Robinson, the director, there’s definitely humor in there,” he said. “There’s definitely a modern sensibility, and it feels fresh.”

Gabbriette as Tyler Trevino

Gabbriette is a model, musician, and actress who performed with the punk outfit Nasty Cherry before bringing her goth-inspired aesthetic — some have called it “Succubus Chic” — to the screen.

Along with her role as Tyler, a true crime podcaster who crosses paths with our doomed heroes, Gabbriette stars in Idiotka, a film starring Camila Mendes, Anna Baryshnikov, and Julia Fox that debuted at this year’s SXSW Film Festival.

Billy Campbell as Grant Spencer

After early roles on Dynasty (1984–1985) and Crime Story (1986–1988), Billy Campbell played the title role in the cult favorite The Rocketeer (1991).

He went on to appear in films such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), Gettysburg (1993), and Enough (2002), later scoring lead roles on series like The 4400 (2004–2007), The Killing (2011–2014), and Cardinal (2017–2020). Most recently, he appeared on Amazon Prime’s acclaimed Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024).

Campbell plays Grant Spencer, Teddy’s father and a real estate developer credited with turning Southport into the “Hamptons of the South.”

Austin Nichols as Pastor Judah

Austin Nichols appeared in big-budget films like The Day After Tomorrow and Wimbledon, both released in 2004, before landing the title role in David Milch’s strange and wonderful Deadwood follow-up, John From Cincinnati (2007), on HBO.

Following that, he delivered memorable turns on series such as One Tree Hill (2008–2012), Ray Donovan (2013–2019), and The Walking Dead (2015–2016). His recent roles include Tyler Perry’s The Six Triple Eight (2024) and the canceled-too-soon Starz series Minx (2022).

In an interview with ET, Nichols described his Pastor Judah as “very involved with the town and wanting to see it grow,” adding that he’s “ambitious and wants his church to grow.”

Of the filmmakers, he said, “I think they did a really good job bringing in the new cast, bringing back the OGs… there are easter eggs in there for people that love the originals.”

Joshua Orpin as Wyatt

Joshua Orpin is best known for helping lead the cast of Titans (2019–2023) as Conner Kent. These days, he can be seen on the Australian soap opera Home & Away (2024–present).

Orpin plays Wyatt, who EW’s critic described as “a hulking piece of beefcake.”

While we won’t spoil it here, anyone who’s watched I Know What You Did Last Summer‘s trailer knows how things shake out for Wyatt. Orpin himself even joked about it on his Instagram.

Jennifer Love Hewitt as Julie James

Jennifer Love Hewitt, one of the teen icons of the 1990s, had already starred on Kids Incorporated (1989–1991) and Party of Five (1995–1999) by the time she played Julie James in I Know What You Did Last Summer and its 1998 sequel.

In 1998, she scored another hit by leading the ensemble of teen party comedy Can’t Hardly Wait. She went on to star opposite Sigourney Weaver in Heartbreakers (2001) and help lead a pair of Garfield films (2004–2006).

Over the past few decades, Hewitt has landed roles on series like Ghost Whisperer (2005–2010), Criminal Minds (2014–2015), and 9-1-1 (2018–present), along with directing and producing work. In 2010, she was nominated for a Golden Globe for her turn in Lifetime’s The Client List (2010). She went on to produce a TV version for the network, which aired from 2012 to 2013.

Hewitt returns to Southport as Julie and, as the trailer makes clear, gets to play the wise elder for a new generation of potential victims.

“I will say it is truly such an honor, at 45, to even be invited back,” Hewitt said in a 2024 Variety interview. “To be thought of in that way, to not just move on to the newer, better, younger versions, but [to be offered] to come back and play that part is really cool.”

Freddie Prinze Jr. as Ray Bronson

Like Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr. was one of the defining teen actors of the 1990s and 2000s, having led popular films like She’s All That (1999), Boys and Girls (2000), and Summer Catch (2001). Young millennials and Gen Z audiences are likely familiar with his turns as Fred in Scooby-Doo (2002) and its 2004 sequel.

His career, however, has gone some strange and unexpected places. After co-creating, producing, and starring in his own series, ABC’s Freddie (2005–2006), he joined the creative staff of WWE, helping craft storylines for the professional wrestling juggernaut. In recent years, he served as a host of WWE Rivals (2022–2024).

In later years, he found his way into the Star Wars universe, voicing Kanan Jarrus in 70 episodes of Star Wars Rebels (2014–2018). As a voice actor, he’s also contributed to some of the most popular video games of the last 15 years, including Mass Effect 3 (2012) and Dragon Age: Inquisition (2014).

In 2002, he married actress Sarah Michelle Gellar after meeting on the set of I Know What You Did Last Summer. They have two children, and she somehow saw the new film before he did.

“I think what [Robinson and I] both brought to Ray was a lot more vulnerability in this movie,” he told EW ahead of the film’s release. “When the s— hits the fan again, so to speak, you kind of see how these characters absorbed all that trauma from the first two movies, and now they’re a sponge getting squeezed, and you get to see what comes out… Nothing felt forced or fake or something that was a note from somebody that didn’t need to be given a note.”