Following a full seven years of silence, John Kramer staged his triumphant (and terrifying!) return last October with Jigsaw, and though the critics weren’t particularly kind to Michael and Peter Spierig’s horror revival, Lionsgate is reportedly keen on jump-starting another entry in the cult series – whether we like it or not. But just where can a potential Saw 9 go from here?
Well, according to Peter, their film left a lot of plot threads to be picked up on and actually, kind of already set up the next outing, though you may not have noticed it. Speaking to Screen Rant in a recent interview to promote the upcoming home video release of Jigsaw, the co-director explained that they secretly planted seeds for Saw 9, saying:
There’s a lot of things that go on in Jigsaw that we talked about where they could go in further movies, and so there’s things with the characters and ideas that have the foundations of other things that could potentially come in the next couple of movies.
You want to make the movie itself a complete experience for the audience, a satisfying experience in terms of the story, of feeling like there is a conclusion. But at the same time, there are some questions about the characters and their arcs and things like that where we haven’t explained. And we certainly talked about it with the producers and the writer and even the actors – where things potentially could go.
Spierig then addressed the importance of what the audience wants and if they’re even up for seeing more of these characters, stating:
It really becomes a question of does the audience want more? Are they keen to see these characters – the characters who survive and even sometimes the characters who don’t survive can end up in another Saw film, based on its history. There’s always room for flashbacks and who knows what.
Like the director says, it really comes down to what viewers want, though judging by the box office haul that Jigsaw brought in ($102.9 million worldwide), it seems like they definitely want more.
Besides, while none of the sequels have really touched the heights of the original (though Saw VI had its moments), it’s still one of the boldest and strangest horror series to have gone mainstream. As such, unlike many of its characters, it’s looking as if the Saw franchise will have legs for a while yet.