‘Saw XI’ Producer Oren Koules Reveals Details Of The Canceled, Potentially Woke, Sequel And Why It Never Came Together
Barely a year went by in the mid-2000s without a Saw movie slashing its way into theaters and making audiences squeamish. However, once the series went 3D, it clearly jumped the shark and was given a much-needed break.
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It returned sporadically to try and play new games, such as in Jigsaw and Spiral, but didn’t recapture the same magic until the tenth movie in 2023. Almost 20 years after the first film, Saw X showed there was still a heartbeat in the body of Tobin Bell’s John Kramer by outperforming the previous two entries.
A sequel was announced, but stalled just as quickly. More and more, we are learning why. Earlier this year, the co-writer of the would-be eleventh film (Saw XI), Patrick Melton, stated that the problems arose above him and the creative team.
“It has nothing to do with the creative or anything else. There’s higher-level things at play,” Melton told The Hollywood Reporter in March. “The reason it’s held up is just, there’s inter-squabbling between producers and Lionsgate. They just can’t quite get on the same page.”
Series producer Oren Koules recently confirmed this. “[Co-producer] Mark [Burg] and I had a difference of opinion about how Saw 11 would be,” he said to ComicBook. “It’s really too bad… We had a difference of opinion, and we couldn’t resolve it.”
The script was nonetheless set, and Saw X director Kevin Greutert was going to return. A 2024 release was scheduled, but the Halle Berry film Never Let Go was given its slot. One year later, there is still no sign of part 11, and people are starting to say, “Show me the sequel!” But some of them might respond with “never mind” once they hear the synopsis.
“Saw XI may or may not be made, but we have a very timely story in it, and I hope it gets made just because of that,” Patrick Melton explained to THR. “It taps into the same themes of Saw VI, where you’re a citizen, you feel angry and frustrated with something, you feel like you can’t do anything, and John Kramer’s going to do it.”
What does he mean by that? In 2009’s Saw VI, John Kramer went after a health insurance executive played by Peter Outerbridge (who later portrayed Black Mask in Batwoman) for denying coverage to patients. In other words, we could’ve expected more social justice messaging from a major film franchise yet again.
Regardless, Saw XI has a minimal chance of happening for a few reasons. One, Blumhouse, which is now partnered with Saw co-creator James Wan, purchased a stake in the rights to the series, which typically indicates a fresh start is on the horizon. That could take the form of a soft or full reboot, and maybe a direct sequel, but that’s only marginally likely.
Two, producer Mark Burg made a firm choice to move on after the death of fellow series executive producer Jason Constantine. “It’s time for me to move on and tell new stories. Saw will always be a part of my history and Hollywood history, and I hope Jigsaw and the Saw Universe live on for many more movies and years to come,” Burg said in a statement.
If it does happen, Burg won’t be involved, but the sequel was supposed to pick up shortly after the last film. “We had everybody in, including Synnøve [Macody Lund, who played Saw X villain Cecilia Pederson] coming back from Saw X,” according to Koules. “She’s amazing. The script that we had was going to take place 30 seconds after Saw X ended.”
