Next ‘Saw’ Film Reportedly Gets Devastating Update

After two decades, it might finally be ‘game over’ for the Saw franchise.

According to a report from Bloody Disgusting, an eleventh installment of the horror franchise is no longer happening, despite already having a release date and cast in place.

“It’s totally dead,” an anonymous source close to the production told Bloody Disgusting. “It’s 100% over. Almost a year now.”

The news comes as a shock, given that Saw X grossed $100 million over its budget and was the first in the series to be critically acclaimed—even the first Saw, the 2004 entry widely considered to be the ‘best’ prior to the tenth, only received a 50% on Rotten Tomatoes. In contrast, the tenth movie was ‘Certified Fresh’ with a score of 81%. Variety critic Owen Gleiberman wrote that the tenth was “more like a real movie” than any of the other Saw flicks because there’s “more talking and less torturing.”

After the instant success of Saw X, which some critics called the franchise’s first great movie, Lionsgate immediately announced a sequel with a teaser image and a release date of September 27, 2024, with series stars Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith and Costas Mandylor returning. Soon after, the sequel was pushed back a year to September 26, 2025. Now, it’s not moving forward at all. So what happened?

“Everything went sideways in January 2024…the producers started fighting,” the source told Bloody Disgusting. One producer wanted to “plow forward” and put out a sequel as soon as possible to capitalize on the acclaim for Saw X, while another “put up roadblocks.” In the end, “greed and ego won,” the source said.

It seems to be the end for John Kramer, the series antagonist/protagonist who’s thwarted cancer and a literal saw to the throat to keep audiences entertained for 21 years now. Here’s hoping that we’ll see him again—in some form—eventually.