Saw X pulled off a tricky bit of franchise math. By setting its story between the first two movies, it brought Tobin Bell’s John Kramer back without having to undo the death that has shaped nearly every sequel since. The result gave fans more time with Jigsaw and the highest rated Saw movie to date according to Rotten Tomatoes, but it also made the question of what came next a lot more interesting.
For a while, the answer appeared to be Saw XI. A direct follow-up to Saw X was announced, only to stall and eventually fall apart amid disagreements behind the scenes. Blumhouse subsequently acquired a stake in the franchise, bringing original creator James Wan back into the fold, but it was unclear who would actually make the next movie.
Now we have a name: Mike P. Nelson will direct a new, currently untitled Saw movie. The announcement was made in a video shared on social media today, but little more is offered aside from the confirmation a new movie is happening. The project has yet to receive an official title or release date, so it remains unclear whether it will revisit any ideas from the scrapped Saw XI or take Jigsaw’s story somewhere else entirely.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes What Is Your Biggest Horror Nightmare? Elm Street · Chucky · Scream · The Conjuring
Four horror franchises. Four completely different ways of scaring you. One waits until you fall asleep. One makes sure nobody believes you. One is already in your group of friends. And one is in the house with your family. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually watch horror, and find out which nightmare was built for you.
😴Elm Street(Freddy Krueger)
🧸Chucky(Child’s Play)
📞Scream(Ghostface)
🕯️The Conjuring(The Warren Files)
01
Which horror scene makes you cover your eyes? Four classic images. One of them is worse than the others for you.
02
You are home alone and you hear a noise. First thought? Everybody has one. It arrives before you have decided anything.
03
Which horror movie rule would you break first? Everybody thinks they would survive. Almost nobody actually does.
04
Something genuinely frightening happens. What do you do? Not in a film. In your actual living room, tonight.
05
How do you actually watch a horror film? Be honest about this one. Nobody is checking.
06
Somebody offers you serious money. Which do you still refuse? The amount does not matter. There is one on this list you are not doing.
07
Which feeling stays with you a week after the film? Good horror does not stop when the credits do.
08
Something wakes you at 3am. What is the worst possibility? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your nightmare.
The Lights Just Went Out Your Nightmare Is…
Four franchises, four completely different ways of getting underneath
your skin. This is the one built out of your particular fear, why it works so well on you, and what
it would leave behind.
A Nightmare on Elm Street · Since 1984
Elm Street
Your nightmare does not wait outside the door. It waits for you
to close your eyes, which you are going to have to do eventually, because nobody has ever
won that particular argument.
Freddy is horror’s cruellest idea: a threat that lives in the one place you cannot
guard, cannot lock, and cannot avoid forever.
You are the one who is fine during the film and wide awake at two in the morning. Your
own head is where this does its damage.
These films understood exhaustion as a horror engine. The kids on Elm Street do not lose
because they are weak. They lose because they are tired.
You can lock every door in the house. You still have to sleep.
Child’s Play · Chucky · Since 1988
Chucky
Your nightmare is not really the doll. It is the face of the
person you tell, and the way they decide, very kindly, that you have imagined all of it.
Chucky works precisely because he is absurd. That is the trap: the more accurately you
describe him, the less anybody is going to believe you.
You are the one shouting at the screen because the characters are not listening. You
know that feeling from real life too.
The franchise is at its best when the adults in the room are the real obstacle, and you
have met those adults.
By the time somebody finally believes you, you will have handled most of it on your own.
Scream · Ghostface · Since 1996
Scream
Your nightmare has your number, knows your name, and has almost
certainly been inside your house before. The worst part is that you already know them.
Scream is the only one of these where the killer takes the mask off and turns out to be
somebody who was at the party.
You are the person who calls the twist out loud before it lands. You watch people the
same way you watch films.
The franchise made the rules of horror part of the plot, which means the survivors are
the ones paying attention. You would be paying attention.
Everybody is a suspect, including the person who just offered to walk you home.
The Conjuring · The Warren Files · Since 2013
The Conjuring
Your nightmare is not really about you. It is about the people
asleep down the hall, and the feeling that whatever is here is not interested in leaving.
The Conjuring films are domestic horror. The house, the family, the perfectly ordinary
room that quietly stops feeling ordinary.
Your instinct is to get everybody into one room. Your fear is protective rather than
personal, which is rarer than it sounds.
This is the one franchise where belief is the weapon. The people who come through it are
the ones who are not alone and refuse to be.
Whatever is here did not come for you. It came for the household, and you are the one
standing in the hallway.
A guy reaching out in terror in the 2004 movie Saw.Image via Lions Gate Films
Nelson has some experience stepping into horror franchises with passionate fan bases. He directed the 2021 Wrong Turn movie and the 2025 Silent Night, Deadly Night, two movies that gave him room to approach familiar names from a different angle. Now he’s taking on a series whose continuity has become almost as elaborate as its traps. That continuity is part of what makes this announcement intriguing. Saw X found a way to center Kramer again, while the planned follow-up would have continued that story. With that version of Saw XI scrapped, Nelson’s appointment confirms the franchise is moving forward, but it doesn’t yet tell us whether Bell will return or where the new movie will sit in the timeline.
Wan’s involvement adds another question: what does he want Saw to be next? The original movie worked because its trap was also a mystery, and every answer made the situation worse. Nelson seems like a strong choice to bring some of that unease back, as Wrong Turn is an effective horror movie because it understands how terrifying it is to realize you’ve misread the danger you’re in. If he can bring that same instinct to Saw, the next movie could make us dread the moment a trap closes as much as what happens afterward.
For the moment, the title, cast, story, and release date have not been announced. Stay tuned with Collider for updates on the franchise in the future.
Image via Alexandro Bolanos Escamilla /© Lionsgate / Courtesy Everett Collection
Image via Lions Gate Films