‘Saw’ Spinoff ‘Spiral’ With Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson Debuts Sinister New Trailer

A sinister new trailer has just debuted for Spiral: From the Book of Saw, a spinoff of the iconic horror franchise that stars Chris Rock and Samuel L. Jackson. The trailer gives fans a wider look at Rock’s character, Detective Ezekiel “Zeke” Banks, whose father was a very well-respected and effective detective during his days on the force. Jackson plays Rock’s fictional father, Marcus Banks, and together — with Zeke’s partner Detective William Schenk, played by Max Minghella (The Handmaid’s Tale) — the men wind up in the bloody center of a murder investigation that becomes a game against someone who may or may not be a disciple of Jigsaw.

In addition to Rock, Jackson, and Minghella, Spiral also stars Marisol Nichols (Riverdale) and Zoie Palmer (Dark Matter). The film is directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, from a script by Josh Stolberg and Peter Goldfinger. Bousman is familiar to Saw fans as he directed films II, III, and IV, from the franchise. Spiral was originally set to be released on Oct. 23, 2020, but was moved up to May 15, 2020. Then, after the Covid-19 pandemic began, the film was postponed until May 21, 2021. Now, it has an official release date of May 14, 2021.

According to Rock, the new branch in the Saw franchise was seeded during a chance encounter with the producing studio’s top executive. “I was at a friend’s wedding, and they introduced me to the head of Lionsgate. I was like, ‘Lionsgate? Oh, Saw.’ And they called me up. I was just poking fun at the Lionsgate guy about Saw,” Rock previously told Collider.

Going on to share more about the new approach to the ninth Saw film, Rock explained that Spiral will be just as intense and brutal as any of the past movie but will offer a few laughs as well. This is something he feels strongly can improve almost any movie. “There are so many movies that I’ve watched and gone, ‘Three jokes would have made that movie a lot better.’ You know what I mean? A lot of times, you can get comedy in things, if it’s grounded, without it changing the movie, per see.”

He then referred to an example, sharing, “Just like that story that Beverly Hills Cop was written for Sylvester Stallone. Eddie Murphy was hired at the last minute, and they made kind of the same movie, but it was grounded with just a little here, here and here.” The actor concluded by saying, “So, [Spiral] is really scary and really bloody. It’s a Saw movie. But every now and then, you take a little air out. It’s gonna be good.”