For the first time since flip phones ruled and horror DVDs came with two-disc special editions, a Saw movie will be directed by James Wan and written by Leigh Whannell, the duo who originally started the franchise.
Wan, now 48, confirmed at the Sundance Film Festival that he’s directing the next Saw movie, with Leigh Whannell, 47, back on script duty. They dropped the news during a legacy screening of the original 2004 film, which premiered at Sundance before Lionsgate unleashed it in October that year.
Wan summed it up plainly: “We want to hark back to the spirit of the original film. We want to make another scary Saw movie.”
The first Saw worked because it was small, tense, and clever. Two guys, one filthy bathroom, a hacksaw, and a ticking clock. Everything after that drifted into franchise maintenance. Ten films later, with 2023’s Saw X as the most recent, it felt like Lionsgate was keeping the lights on rather than saying anything new.
Saw XI was meant to hit cinemas on 27 September 2024. Then producers started fighting. One tried to push ahead, the other slammed on the brakes, and the whole thing collapsed. Enter Blumhouse Productions, which picked up a 50 percent stake, joining Lionsgate and reuniting Wan with his Atomic Monster team after its merger with Blumhouse.
Blumhouse boss Jason Blum didn’t dance around the plan. “Get the people who made the magic in the first place more involved,” he said. “James Wan will be hugely involved.”
Wan sounds reinvigorated. “For me—James Wan—I have not been involved in this franchise to this degree… since the first movie,” he told Letterboxd. His aim is clear: “I want to make a scary Saw—not just gory, but psychologically scarring.”
Whannell wants the puzzle back. “The movie’s like this puzzle box,” he said. “At the end, it’ll be a surprise.” That mindset built the original’s ending, the one where Tobin Bell shut the door and said, “Game over.” Wan still laughs about that moment. “We really meant game over… until box office opening weekend.”
Now, after 22 years, Saw is back with the people who actually understand why it worked. If you ever missed that uneasy feeling rather than just flinching at the gore, this might finally be your excuse to care again.
RELATED: Home Alone’s Kevin McCallister: The Childhood Psychopath Becomes Jigsaw
