Movies

Spiral director talks future of the Saw franchise

Filmmaker Darren Lynn Bousman says there's "more to tell in this universe."

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Published on May 16, 2021 10:37AM EDT

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for Spiral: From the Book of Saw.

Horror fans discovered this weekend that the Saw franchise has a brand new villain. While Tobin Bell's Jigsaw was referenced in the series' ninth outing, the Chris Rock-starring Spiral: From the Book of Saw, the big bad ultimately turned out to be Max Minghella's vengeance-seeking cop William Schenk.

So where does that leave the Saw franchise? Has Minghella taken over the films' villainous mantle for good? Will Bell return to play Jigsaw (A.K.A. John Kramer, who actually died way back in 2006's Saw III but still managed to cast a murderous shadow over the films up to Spiral)? We checked in with Darren Lynn Bousman, who has directed four of the Saw movies including Spiral, for his thoughts.

"I think we're in uncharted territories right now," says the filmmaker. "I think the sky is the limit. I know that there's more to tell in this universe, so we just hope that people want to keep hearing these stories. What's exciting is that this is not Saw 9, this is Spiral. I think there could absolutely be a Saw 9. This is the ninth installment, but there could be a traditional Saw 9 that could follow Tobin Bell, it could follow Costas Mandylor (another of the franchise's villains), wherever they want it [to go]. There could be a TV series that's a different story of a different killer, a different person. Spiral could continue. This hopefully could be a new metaverse where you're seeing different stories all within the Saw universe taking place at the same time."

So there could be a Saw-vengers, if you will?

"It's the Saw-vengers! Yeah," says Bousman. "I'm going to credit you with coining that term."

Watch the trailer for Spiral: From the Book of Saw above.

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