It’s taken a while, but the Saw franchise is finally good again with Saw X receiving the highest rating out of all 10 films, surpassing the original film and currently flying high with a rating of 85% on Rotten Tomatoes. With all this newfound love for the grisly film series, can we expect to see yet another sequel?
Remember how John Kramer, AKA Jigsaw, died at the end of Saw III? And ever since then, the franchise has struggled to carry on without its iconic antagonist, often opting for flashbacks and everything else just as an excuse to keep actor Tobin Bell around. Well Saw X made the right call in setting itself in a period before the killer died. The film is set in between the events of the first and second Saw, meaning we get to see Kramer at the height of his brutality.
Does the Saw X plot tease a sequel?
As is becoming more common these days for elderly citizens, Jigsaw falls for a scam which sees him shell out a lot of money. “Of all the men to cheat, you picked John Kramer,” is what we hear a mysterious voiceover say in the trailer, and it’s true as we see John take his gnarly revenge on those who wronged him. By the time the film ends, you may not want to see any more gore and mutilation, but it definitely looks like the creators were sowing the seeds for at least a few more follow ups.
Being a prequel definitely makes the whole thing a bit more of a challenge, considering there’s only so much Jigsaw could realistically get up to between now and his imminent death. However, fans were expecting to see more than just Jigsaw in this film with many speculating that a few familiar faces from past films were likely to show up and they certainly weren’t disappointed.
Spoilers for Saw X to follow.
Who would be the focus of a sequel?
Many were pleased to see the return of Detective Hoffman, who is revealed to be working with Jigsaw throughout the entire film. Hoffman goes on to adopt the Jigsaw mantle for Saw V, VI, and VII, so if the filmmakers wanted to stretch out their material, we could see Saw 11 focus on Hoffman more than Kramer whilst still keeping Tobin Bell around because let’s face it—he’s the main reason people buy tickets for the Saw films.
The plot could see Hoffman learning the trade from his mentor whilst simultaneously giving us more backstory on these two characters and their relationship to one another. This definitely seems like what the creators were going for as Hoffman’s appearance in the post-credits scene feels Marvelesque in the way it’s so obviously setting up for something.
That seems to be where the producers’ minds are at as they admitted that was the plan in an interview with Dexerto.
“One of the things that we’ve read a lot about is that Jigsaw always seems so ahead of everybody. So one of the tricks in this movie that we wanted to show is that he’s been dealing with Detective Hoffman for a long time.”
Of course, there’s no confirmation on whether an 11th Saw film is actually happening, those involved have confirmed that they are hopeful they get the chance to develop that story, “should this movie open well, and should Lionsgate want to make another one, that’s exactly where we’re going with the next one.”
Whilst it’s been a critical success so far, it all depends on the box office performance, something that will become much clearer after this weekend.
What would the cast look like?
In terms of cast, there’s always space for Tobin Bell no matter the size of the role. Costas Mandylor is also a given as Mark Hoffman considering the producers have confirmed he would be more of a focus in a hypothetical sequel. Jigsaw’s other apprentice, Amanda Young, also appeared in Saw X and she’s just as much of a mainstay of the franchise as her two co-conspirators, but considering Amanda dies in Saw III, he presence is unlikely.
We could also Synnøve Macody Lund return as Cecelia considering the fact that we don’t see her die at the end, and if the previous films have taught us anything, it’s that if we don’t see the death on-screen, they can always come back. Aside from that, it’s up in the air as to who else could appear, anything else would be wild speculation at this point.
How soon could we see Saw 11?
At its peak in the mid-2000s, we were seeing a new Saw film every year. That doesn’t seem too likely now with the gaps between films being more like 2-3 years. It’s unlikely there’s even been any movement production wise on a sequel as of now, but one thing that is pretty consistent is the fact the films release around Halloween. So we could see Saw 11 around October 2025 or 2026, if we’re lucky.