Jigsaw's Games Will Continue With Saw XI In 2024
Are you ready to play another game? The "Saw" canon isn't exactly the easiest challenge for casual fans to make sense of — Tobin Bell's John Kramer was infamously killed off way back in "Saw III," for instance, despite almost every movie since twisting itself into knots in order to include him in the action anyway — but the series has gone on to become one of the longest-running (and most consistently-performing) horror franchises ever anyway. That streak was all but assured of continuing after the latest installment, "Saw X," earned the best reviews out of any of the movies and went on to slash its way to the top of the box office. America and, indeed, the entire world are demanding more Billy the Puppet and the maniacal Jigsaw games ... and Lionsgate has been listening.
The studio has officially announced that the franchise will return with "Saw XI" and, what's more, they've already pinned down a surprisingly early release date. In an Instagram post, Lionsgate set a date for September of 2024 along with the tagline "The game continues." Given that "Saw X" only just arrived in theaters this past September, that turnaround time feels incredibly quick. Unfortunately, no details were forthcoming about the plot of the new sequel, which characters may be involved, when this next film may be set in the timeline, or even whether "Saw" veteran Kevin Greutert will return to the director's chair alongside franchise writers Josh Stolberg and Pete Goldfinger.
But considering the enthusiasm for the back-to-basics "Saw X," it's safe to assume that we're in for another round of John Kramer's perverse and horrifically violent traps.
Saw XI is dropping next year
The news that "Saw XI" has been given the green light feels like a fait accompli, especially when the franchise producers have already been talking up ideas for where another sequel could take them. /Film previously reported comments by producers Oren Koules and Mark Burg, who pointed out one rather obvious leftover thread that the next installment of the series could pick up:
"But if this movie should open, do you think John Kramer/Jigsaw would want somebody out there knowing who he was? There's only one person that's not in his world [who knows who he is], and that's a brilliant actress by the name of Synnove Lund, who played Cecilia in this movie. We kind of kept her alive in this movie."
The con artist Cecilia, of course, was chiefly responsible for the false cure to cancer promised to several unfortunate victims — John Kramer included. Sure, Cecilia isn't exactly left in the best of circumstances when last we see her, but it's easy to imagine a follow-up film picking up on this plotline and running with it for another confrontation between herself and Jigsaw. Finally, the "Saw" franchise delivered a victim who could stand toe-to-toe with Kramer in terms of sheer villainy, so it's only natural to want to see this dynamic explored in future films. Naturally, all this is speculation until Lionsgate sees fit to announce exactly which direction "Saw XI" will take.
It feels more and more likely, however, that Tobin Bell will return as John Kramer for yet another series of twisted games.