Sarah Pidgeon, Chase Sui Wonders, Tyriq Withers and Jonah Hauer-King discuss what emotions are at the center of their characters’ motivations in the I Know What You Did Last Summer film.

The cast spoke with Blavity/Shadow and Act Managing Editor Trey Mangum about the film and how they approached their characters’ emotional states and driving forces. Pidgeon, who plays Stevie Ward, said her character’s “deep ties” to Southport explain many of her actions.

“The fact that she was the one who couldn’t get out and has had sort of this enduring time there…I think her ties and the feeling of being trapped in Southport have motivated a lot of her actions throughout the film,” she said. “I mean, she’s totally heartbroken and exacting revenge.”

Exploring shame, heartbreak, and parental pressure

Wonders said her character, Ava Brucks, has issues with how she sees herself.

“I think Ava’s motivation lies in a deep sense of shame. I think she’s someone who’s seen herself as kind of this morally pure and good person with this kind of problemless upbringing, and then this [thing] happens.”

“I think there’s a lot of self-hate and a lot of shame that drives her forward,” she continued. “And also this feeling of love towards this friend group and towards these people tied to this place that is so nostalgic for her, like trying to get that back, trying to retrieve that sense of love is something she’s chasing after.”

Withers, who plays Teddy Spencer, said what drew him to the film were the characters’ deep emotions.

“I always say as humans we’re mosaics. We are an accumulation of our experiences,” he said. “We’re a product of the nature and nurturing that we’ve witnessed. And I think Teddy is a product of his father. I think he fears his take on things and he just wants to make his dad proud.”

“His entire life, he has just been letting him down, and I think that drives a lot of the way he responds to traumatic situations,” he continued. “He’s witnessed his father react to things, and once you’re taught a certain way to keep the friend group alive and the business going, he just put things under the rug. He’s not a bad person. You can judge Teddy, but he’s just reacting [as] he was taught.”

Trying to cope when everything unravels

Hauer-King’s character Milo Griffin thinks of himself as “quite upstanding and quite a good person.” But, Hauer-King continued, when the movie’s big event happens, “I think it’s going to be very painful for him and he doesn’t really know how to deal with it. And so I think he tries to be a pragmatist and he tries to be rational.”

“I think he sees the situation for what it is. He sees the guilt as being quite…sinister and sort of eating people from the inside out,” he added. “Like, he’s seeing this person that he really likes and the shame and what it’s doing and eating away at her. So I think he tries to set himself this other mentality. I think he’s someone that tries to sort of write his narrative himself and tries to be kind of positive about it and pragmatic, but ultimately it’s still there and the pain is still there and it’s not leaving him. So I think it’s a constant push and pull with those two.”

Watch the full interview with the entire cast above. I Know What You Did Last Summer is now in theaters.