“Saw 11” Is Being Cut Off. Is It Game Over For Jigsaw?
Disappointment for “Saw” fans: According to reports on the website “Bloody Disgusting,” one of the largest sites on the Internet dedicated to horror, “Saw 11” has been canceled. The film was supposed to be released worldwide in September 2025. Still, it is currently dead for various undisclosed reasons – which may be related to disagreements in the production team or the condition of the film’s star, Tobin Bell.
Can we close the door on one of the most successful franchises in the history of horror cinema despite the recent “Saw 11” news, or maybe we will see a twist here, bringing Jigsaw back to life again?
Is Saw 11 Canceled? (Spoiler: Yes, For Now)
Even if many horror fans received the news of the cancellation of “Saw 11” (“Saw XI”) with complete surprise, or should we say disappointment, it seems the writing was on the wall.
In fact, according to Bloody Disgusting, work on the film stopped over a year ago (!), in January 2024, despite the film’s official release date being September 2025. A source close to the production said the film is “totally dead. It’s 100% over. Almost a year now.”
Apparently, the main reason is disagreements between the producers about the direction the film should take or even the pace of the project: one producer reportedly wanted to move forward with the film quickly, while the other wanted to go in a slightly more leisurely direction.
Another concern during the project was the physical condition of Tobin Bell, who famously played John Kramer, known as “Jigsaw,” in nine of the ten films in the franchise so far. Veteran Tobin Bell was born in 1942, which means he is already 82 years old. In February, we heard that Bell’s advanced age is raising concerns among producers that he no longer meets the physical demands of a role of this magnitude after struggling a bit in the previous film.
Was Saw 11 Supposed To Be A No Brainer?
The announcement of “Saw 11” would have seemed like a sure thing after the success of the previous film in the franchise, considering we are talking about a franchise that has so far grossed more than $ 1-1 billion worldwide on fairly minimal budgets.
“Saw X” (or “Saw 10”) hit screens in September 2023 and served as a prequel film, taking place between the plot of the first and second films in the franchise. It brought the franchise back to life after the failure of “Spiral,” which was terrible in many aspects. This film was the most expensive in the franchise, with a budget of about $20 million, and grossed about $40 million worldwide – the lowest-grossing film in the franchise. Critics also cut the movie to pieces with a metaphorical chainsaw, and rightly so.
“Saw X,” on the other hand, was loved by audiences and critics alike. It grossed a decent sum of about $111 million against a budget of about $13 million. Its “Tomatometer” on Rotten Tomatoes – the percentage of positive reviews among the critics – stands at 81%, and the weighted critic score on the Meta Critic website, the “Metascore,” is at 60.
If that’s not enough, the tenth film ended with a post-credits scene that hinted at a sequel with some familiar characters, so the cast of “Saw XI” would be impressive. The expectations were that we would see Tobin Bell returning as John Kramer, Costas Mandylor return as Detective Lieutenant Mark Hoffman (who started as a cop in the third film but became Kramer’s apprentice and later also a secondary antagonist) and of course Shawnee Smith as Amanda Young, who also became an antagonist. Kevin Greutert, who directed “Saw 6”, “Saw 7,” and “Saw X,” was supposed to be behind the cameras again. The plan was that Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, who wrote the screenplay for the fourth to seventh films in the franchise, would take on the task this time too.
Will There Be A Saw 11 Someday Soon?
If you’re in a hurry to eulogize Jigsaw, it’s possible that just like the franchise itself, we’ll see him resurrected in some bloody twist at some point. It is possible that despite the latest report, “Saw 11” (or at least another film in the franchise) will come alive as a sequel, prequel, sequel, reboot, spin-off, animated version, cartoon, or Whatever. We have already seen the horror world unwilling to give up on successful franchises.
What is certain is that the film will almost certainly not be released anytime soon and will likely have to start over. That is, with a completely new cast, from scratch.
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