Summary
- Director Kevin Greutert reveals that Saw X will present Jigsaw in a new light, framing him as the "hero" of the movie.
- Saw X will focus more on John Kramer as a human rather than as Jigsaw, exploring his fears and personal story.
- The placement of Saw X between the first two movies and putting Jigsaw in the protagonist's seat marks it as an important installment that could shape the future of the franchise.
With nearly two decades of deaths to his name, director Kevin Greutert explains how Saw X will put Jigsaw in a new light for audiences. Greutert returns to the franchise after a six-year hiatus, having previously been the editor of the first five Saw movies, the director of the sixth and seventh installments and editor on 2017's revival Jigsaw. He's bringing with him Tobin Bell, similarly absent from 2021's Spiral, as John Kramer, who crafts his most personal game yet to take revenge on a group of con artists who led him to believe they cured his cancer.
During a panel at 2023's Midsummer Scream Convention, of which The Direct was in attendance, Kevin Greutert opened up about the new setting and larger focus on Jigsaw for Saw X. The director revealed that Tobin Bell's iconic serial killer is now being framed as the "hero" of the new horror sequel, and that the larger role will offer audiences a new side of John Kramer. Check out what Greutert shared below:
John is absolutely... the protagonist in this movie. He is a man who's ill. He's a guy who was looking to extend his life. And in this process of him thinking, he's getting his life extended, s--t goes down. There it is, but he's absolutely the hero of this movie. He's in this movie… [I haven't] done the math, but probably [more than] the last six or seven movies combined. This is his movie... This is John Kramer's story as a human, not as Jigsaw--we'll get there, trust me, but as a human, and like, you know, his fears and what's going on in his life at the time.
Editor's Note: This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and the movie covered here would not exist without the labor of the writers and actors in both unions.
Why Saw X Is The Franchise's Most Important Movie
Following Jigsaw's reveal that Matt Passmore's Logan was the eponymous killer's first apprentice, it seemed Jigsaw's time in the Saw franchise had finally come to a close, with the Chris Rock-led Spiral instead exploring how his legacy has inspired more killers in the world. Despite that movie's cliffhanger ending setting up a new ongoing serial killer and forging a new path for the future, the announcement that Bell would return for Saw X proved divisive among franchise fans, with some expecting another convoluted explanation for his return while others embraced the decision.
With Saw X now confirmed to be set between the first two movies, similar to how Jigsaw was both a prequel and sequel to the first seven movies, it has officially set the new movie as one of the most important for the franchise to date. Should the expansion of Jigsaw's story with a between-movie setting prove effective with audiences and at the box office, it could lead to future sequels taking a similar path. Additionally, with Spiral having struggled at the box office from its COVID-set release, the tenth movie will need to perform if future installments have a hope of being produced.
The other major factor marking Saw X as one of the most important movies in the franchise is it putting Jigsaw in the protagonist's seat in comparison to prior installments, which largely saw him relegated to the villainous overseer or flashbacks explaining his motives. Many audiences have previously expressed a feeling that Kramer was not an outright villain in the Saw movies, as he never directly kills his victims, and generally targets those leading seedy lives. If Greutert and his team can successfully make a sympathetic character out of Jigsaw with Saw X, it would establish an interesting new direction for the franchise.
Source: The Direct
