Want to play a game? Try to guess how long it will take for "Saw 11" to hit theaters. According to producers Oren Koules and Mark Burg, it's not impossible for the franchise to keep going.
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00:00 Want to play a game? Try to guess how long it will take for Saw XI to hit theaters. According
00:05 to producers Oren Kules and Mark Berg, it's not impossible for the franchise to keep going.
00:10 Spoilers ahead.
00:11 Saw X could be the final Saw film. While it's technically a prequel, taking place three
00:16 weeks after the events of the first film but before Saw II, it's very much a thematic sequel,
00:22 intended to be seen after every other film in the franchise. It's the first film in the
00:26 series to put Tobin Bell's John Kramer front and center and to ask the viewer to empathize
00:31 with the Jigsaw killer as he undertakes one of his life lesson torture sessions. It's a
00:36 showcase for a character who died too soon in his own franchise, a big Halloween present
00:41 for the fans who have stuck with the series through thick or thin.
00:44 But after ten movies, do you really think the Saw series is actually going to end? Like
00:48 all respectable horror franchises, this one is going to keep driving until the wheels
00:53 come off, and Saw X is one of the best films in the series. Of course, Saw XI is a very
00:58 real possibility, especially since the latest film unlocks the timeline. All bets are off.
01:04 Prequels, sequels, betweenquels, the Saw timeline was joyful chaos before, and now it's more
01:10 labyrinthine than ever.
01:12 Following a screening of Saw X at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, Slash Film sat down
01:17 with producers Oren Kules and Mark Berg for an interview. The duo has been with the series
01:22 since the very first entry. To save money, Kules played the very much alive body Amanda
01:27 has to extract that key from in the first film. So if anyone is able to talk about what's
01:32 next for Saw, it's them. They were cagey about the future of the series, but it's clear they're
01:37 bursting with ideas. Saw X just needs to be a hit first, they said, which it now is.
01:42 "Sometimes we get sucked into things that are against our nature."
01:49 Regarding the ending, Kules and Berg noted that they don't like to think too far ahead
01:53 when it comes to follow-ups. But in the same breath, they teased a sequel possibility.
01:57 Berg told Slash Film,
01:59 "Being that we're superstitious, we kind of don't really talk about a sequel until this
02:03 movie opens. But if this movie should open, do you think John Kramer Jigsaw would want
02:08 somebody out there knowing who he was? There's only one person. We kind of kept Cecilia alive
02:13 in this movie."
02:14 Cecilia, a con artist who tricks dying people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars each
02:19 with promises of a miracle cancer cure, is still drawing breath when the film concludes.
02:24 As one of the nastiest villains in the whole series, it's an interesting choice, but her
02:29 being left alive to seek out John, or to be sought out by him, in a future sequel certainly
02:34 gets the imagination cooking.
02:36 While Saw X takes the series backwards in time, there are plenty of lingering threads
02:41 in the present day. Jigsaw introduced another still-living Jigsaw apprentice. Spiral, from
02:46 the book of Saw, introduced a copycat killer inspired by John Kramer's work. Have we seen
02:51 the last of those two? Could they team up in a future sequel?
02:55 Berg and Coulis seemingly don't want to rule anything out, but they won't confirm or deny.
03:00 So what is the next step for planning for a possible Saw XI? It certainly sounds like
03:04 Coulis and Berg have a system. Part of it involves watching the fan reaction very closely.
03:10 Coulis said,
03:11 "We don't test screen the movie. We don't know what audiences like. For the next month,
03:15 we'll read a lot of Reddit, read all the different sites, read fan sites, and see what characters
03:20 they identify with, what characters they like. In a weird way, the release of the movie is
03:24 our test screen. Most studios will test screen and film three, four times."
03:29 Berg stepped in to continue this thought, making it clear that they carefully monitor
03:32 fan reactions following the release of a Saw movie, and use that feedback to determine
03:37 the direction of the series. Amanda came back to this movie because Oren and myself read
03:42 so much about the audiences wanting more of her, and, quite frankly, wanting more John
03:47 Kramer. Because of wanting that, we decided that's where this story came from.
03:51 So there you have it. If you have strong feelings about Saw X, the masterminds of the franchise
03:56 are paying attention, and they may react accordingly for Saw XI. But what could a sequel be about?
04:02 Fans will note that Saw X ends with a young child very much alive, very much aware of
04:06 John Kramer, and very much having bonded with him in a near-death experience. In real time,
04:12 that kid would be an adult now, and maybe ready to lead a sequel.
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