Horror Master James Wan Shares His Conditions for Returning to the Saw Franchise

James Wan has delivered blockbuster franchises for the horror world with The Conjuring and Insidious, but his first breakout success came 20 years ago with his directorial debut Saw. While that film has earned nine sequels to date, Wan himself has largely been absent from that overall trajectory of the killer Jigsaw outside of serving as an executive producer, with the filmmaker recently noting it would take a concept that was “extremely special” to convince him to return to that world. This is understandably disappointing news for fans of the franchise, but Wan emphasized that he’s currently more interested in pursuing entirely new worlds as opposed to familiar ones, so there’s still a lot to be excited about when it comes to his future projects.

“I would never say never, but it would have to be something extremely special for me to want to step back in,” Wan revealed to PEOPLE. “And right now, I have so many other projects that I’m cooking in the pipeline that mean a lot to me … So I would rather work on those and see those get off the ground before something else that I’ve already done.”

The original movie focuses on a criminal mastermind who crafts devices that force victims to make major bodily sacrifices to escape or otherwise succumb to their own deaths. The finale of that movie reveals that these devices were crafted by Tobin Bell’s John Kramer, who suffered from a terminal illness and hoped these devices inspired victims to appreciate their lives.

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Future films saw dozens of other victims subjected to these devices, some of which were crafted by Kramer and some of which were developed by figures inspired by his actions. The Saw films helped establish the mid-2000s trend of putting heavy emphasis on graphic violence, while their relatively low production budgets allowed for installments to debut on an annual basis. Wan went on to reflect on how, had he stayed with the series, he would have explored other narrative paths.

Wan admitted he “would’ve taken certain things on a different path,” though, since he opted out of the series, he’s “never necessarily been critical about where the franchise has gone” and commends “all of the subsequent directors” for their accomplishments.

“They’ve all done a great job shepherding this franchise and [continuing] to make as many as they have,” the filmmaker expressed. “So kudos to them for knowing what to do, and the direction of where they felt they needed to take it.”

Wan’s talents as a filmmaker have extended outside the realm of horror, having directed movies like Furious 7 and Aquaman, and his last horror movie, 2021’s Malignant, was an entirely new experience. In recent years, Wan’s name has been attached to projects like The Tommyknockers, Frankenstein, and a live-action Gargoyles, though it’s currently unknown which of his projects will move forward next.

Saw 11 currently has a release date of September 26, 2025.

Would you like Wan to return to the franchise? Contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!