Can we stop acting like Julie James is as important as Sidney Prescott?

Last Updated on February 28, 2025

Editor’s Note: this hot take isn’t meant to be the final word on the I Know What You Did Last Summer sequel. We’re looking forward to it here on the site, and this article is meant to start a fun debate on a movie that could be great – or not.

Can stop this absurd notion that Julie James is as important to the horror world as Sidney Prescott? In my opinion, she’s hardly even important in her own (short) franchise. It feels like an insult to a character that has been put through the ringer for over 30 years like Sidney. Especially when Julie’s exploits took place over just one year (1997-1998) and was mostly self-inflicted. Maybe don’t dump the body of the guy you and your friends murdered. Sidney was simply a victim of something she couldn’t control (her mother’s promiscuity and all that entailed). They’re not even on the same playing field. To put Julie James and Sidney Prescott on the same level is an insult to horror heroines.

And yet article after article has been posted, acting as if Jennifer Love Hewitt’s return as Julie James in the new reboot has even a little bit of the significance of Neve Campbell returning for Scream 7. While they may have come up at the same time together, there’s no reason to lump them together in anything other than time period of release. These characters, their films, and their impacts could not be more colossally different. Scream changed the entire horror landscape and brought meta to the mainstream. We are still feeling the ripples of it in modern day horror. I Know What You Did Last Summer was a rushed answer to the success of Scream. Nothing more. Because unlike the Scream franchise which is currently filming its 7th entry, the I Know series was relegated to just the three films. While the first film has its fans, the second one is a terrible film that sent the series on a direct to DVD path.

When it comes to the Scream franchise, there is no one more important than Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott. Of the six (soon to be seven) Scream films, Sidney is a massive part of 6 of them. Hell, she’s the entire motivation for not one, not two, but arguably seven Ghostface killers. She fits the final girl trope while completely calling out its lunacy. And the meta element of the Stab series, allows the films to comment on themselves, while still staying true to the world created. Sidney is important and the character’s comment as much. But what significance does Julie James have for a new entry?

Let’s just say this new film (featuring a cast that includes Madelyn Cline as Julie’s daughter) takes one of two routes: Julie’s daughter is involved in a similar “accidental kill that they try to hide” event or someone uses the original accident as motivation to take out Julie’s family, for punishment over the family they themselves never got to have. You can even bring back one of hook-hand Ben’s family members as someone out for revenge. But it just brings more questions than answers. What are the chances of ANOTHER accident happening to the same family? And if they go the other route, then why did someone take nearly 30 years to exact their revenge on Julie (and technically Ray, since Freddie Prinze  Jr is returning as well)? So if it’s not revenge, then how would Julie even be relevant to an entirely new killer?

So it’s been weird to see journalists and fans treating the return of Julie James as a being a massive moment for horror. I’m glad Jennifer Love Hewitt is getting paid well (we mean no disrespect to her – she’s a good actress) but to act like the movie couldn’t have been made without her involvement is just silly. Julie James is completely expendable and has proven as such in her two appearances in film. Hell, her treatment of Ray in I Still Know, is absolutely egregious, with her completely tossing him to the wayside because he has PTSD and she just wants to go on vacation with her friends. She’s truly awful. Julie blends in with all the other bad characters in a slasher movie and never proves why she stands out. Instead, she just stumbles into a conclusion. If anything, Ray Bronson is more important to the franchise than Julie James ever was. He actually has some kind of drive and gets shit done. Julie is constantly in victim mode; something I could never imagine Sidney Prescott even flirting with. So what’s the point in her returning?

But what do you think? Am I being too harsh on Julie James? Is she actually important to her franchise? Will the new remake be good? Or will it suck balls? Let us know in the comments – we’d love to hear from Julie James stans!