The Original ‘Saw’ Team Is Leading the Franchise’s Return

Things have been weird for Saw in recent years. After Twisted Pictures and Lionsgate’s relationship collapsed and took Saw XIdown with it, it took some time before James Wan snatched up the franchise he and Leigh Whannell first made back in 2002. So it’s only fitting they get directly involved with the franchise’s next moves.

During a screening of the original Saw at the Sundance Film Festival, a fan asked the pair about the future of the films. Wan revealed he and Whannell will reteam for the next film, though he stopped short of confirming whether they’d respectively direct and write as they did with the first one. He also teased this new installment would “hark back to the spirit of the original [Saw].”

Because it’s so early in the process, Wan wouldn’t say if that meant continuing Jigsaw’s long-running story or starting fresh, though he noted that it wouldn’t be a proper film in the series without Jigsaw in some capacity. Either way, they “know there’s a lot of love for the world, [and we’ll] be mindful and respectful of what fans have loved about the soapy nature of the entire franchise.”

Interestingly, he concluded by stating the intent to make “another scary Saw movie.” Later sequels became more focused on the traps and the gruesome scenarios its victims were stuck in, shifting things from scary to gory. Again, it’s unclear what that means for the story and how Jigsaw’s involved—the series has tried soft reboots before with Jigsaw and Spiral, neither of which fully took with audiences and led to Saw X going back to before the killer’s death. But we’ll have to wait and see what Wan and Whannell have in store and what their new approach to scares will be.

[via SawUpdates]

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