While no one was particularly surprised when it was announced in May 2019 that a new Saw movie was on the way, the fact that comedian Chris Rock was set to co-write and star in it was unexpected. But it turns out that Rock is a long-time fan of the series, and two months later, the next Saw movie was in production.
Saw is one of the most successful horror franchises of the past two decades. The original 2004 movie, which was directed by James Wan and written by Wan and Leigh Whannell, was a huge hit, grossing $103 million from a tiny budget of $1.2 million. The film’s inventive blend of gritty cop thriller and intense horror kickstarted a series that was known for its inventively gruesome set-pieces and increasingly complicated storylines. The insane trap-setting maniac Jigsaw became one of horror’s most iconic villains, and the series inspired a whole sub-genre of gory imitators.
Of course, no movie series remains popular forever, and the commercial disappointment of 2010’s seventh movie, Saw 3D, led the franchise to take a much-needed rest. Seven years went by before 2017’s Jigsaw. While this prequel/reboot didn’t quite hit the box office heights that the series did a decade earlier, it was successful enough to show that interest was still there. The ninth Saw movie is set for release in May–it’s titled Spiral: From the Book of Saw and looks set to take the series in another intriguing direction. So here’s everything we know so far about it…