The Saw franchise has come a long way since James Wan’s original film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. Since then, the indie hit has become a major horror franchise in its own right. The lore is as deep in the world of Saw as any other franchise, but James Wan, who directed the first film, would like to bring the next one back to basics.
The future of the Saw franchise is in a weird place now. Following the underperformance of Saw X, plans for Saw XI were scrapped, resulting in Lionsgate dropping the franchise and Blumhouse coming in to pick things up. One thing Jason Blum has said he wants from the franchise is the return of James Wan. Wan recently spoke with Letterboxd, and while he didn’t reveal any specific details of what might happen in the future, he did indicate that he would like to see a future Saw film be more like the original. He explained…
For me to finally come back to it, I feel I have probably the freshest outlook. I feel I can come back to it with a new perspective whilst knowing that with this next movie I want to hark back to the spirit of the first movie. One of the things I really want to do with this next Saw is make it scary again. I want to make a scary Saw—not just gory, but psychologically scarring, like what Leigh and I did in the first movie.
James Wan has technically been a producer on every Saw movie in the franchise, though he admits in the interview that he really hasn’t been directly involved in the production of the movies since Saw III. He does believe this distance would be a benefit as it would allow him to come at the franchise without the baggage of everything that came before.
With a new studio at the helm and James Wan wanting to take the franchise back to the beginning, it certainly makes one wonder if a reboot is in store. Certainly, the story of the Saw franchise, all of Jigsaw’s various apprentices, and all the different games have become somewhat convoluted. There’s just a lot that a future Saw movie would need to unpack, and it might be easier to just not do that.
Still, James Wan is absolutely right that a return to the psychological horror of the early franchise is much needed. There’s a reason that the first movie, which didn’t focus a great deal on the wild and bloody traps nearly as much as later installments, resonated with fans. The concept of Jigsaw as a man who, at least believed he was doing people a service, by making them make great decisions about not wasting their lives, has largely been overlooked in favor of gore.
For a franchise that once had annual installments, there seems to be no rush to get into the next installment of the Saw franchise. Hopefully, that’s a good thing, and whatever comes next will be worth the wait.