Fans devastated by Saw XI update just six months before planned release

Gory horror film was scheduled to hit cinemas last September but has already been delayed by a year

Fans of the Saw horror film franchise are responding to reports that the latest instalment, Saw XI, is unlikely to meet its September release date and could even be cancelled altogether.

Saw XI was initially scheduled for release in September 2024 but this was later pushed to September 2025.

Lionsgate confirmed Saw XI in December 2023, shortly after the release of Saw X in September that year. Producer Oren Koules told SFX Magazine at the time that the sequel would be a follow-up to Saw X, as “Cecilia is still alive and Tobin and Shawnee are in a foreign country still”.

“So that, to me, would be the natural place to take at least the next one,” he said.

Kevin Greutert, who directed Saw VI, Saw 3D and Saw X, was set to return for Saw XI, as were the stars Tobin Bell, reprising his role as John Kramer or the Jigsaw, Shawnee Smith as Amanda Young and Costas Mandylor as detective lieutenant Mark Hoffman.

The newest film, however, appears to have been “totally dead” for almost a year, Bloody Disgusting reported, adding that fighting between producers was to blame.

A still from Saw X (Lionsgate)

“It’s totally dead. It’s 100 per cent over. Almost a year now,” an unnamed source told the outlet.

“Everything went sideways in January 2024,” the source added, “the producers started fighting”.

One producer tried to “plow forward” with the film, the report said, but the other “put up roadblocks” and Lionsgate “didn’t have anyone to smooth over the disagreement”.

“Greed and ego won,” the source said.

The Hollywood Reporter carried a similar update, with more information from Saw XI screenwriter Patrick Melton, who also wrote Saw IV, Saw V, Saw VI, and Saw 3D.

Melton, along with writing partner Marcus Dunstan, said he turned in a draft of the script for Saw XI in spring 2024, but hasn’t “heard anything” since then.

“We haven’t heard anything since May. It’s stalled at a managerial level. It has nothing to do with the creative or anything else. There’s higher-level things at play,” Melton said.

“Saw XI may or may not be made, but we have a very timely story in it, and I hope it gets made just because of that. It taps into the same themes of Saw VI, where you’re a citizen, you feel angry and frustrated with something, you feel like you can’t do anything, and John Kramer’s going to do it.

“The reason it’s held up is just, there’s inter-squabbling between producers and Lionsgate. They just can’t quite get on the same page.”

The franchise launched in 2004 and, after grossing $104m (£80m) on a budget of just $1m (£770,573), spawned multiple sequels, the last of which, Jigsaw, was released in 2017.

A spin-off starring Chris Rock, titled Spiral: From the Book of Saw, was released in 2021.

Fans of the longtime gory horror franchise are understandably upset, especially considering Saw X went on to gross $125m (£96m) worldwide on a budget of $13m (£10m) and opened to positive reviews from critics.

In The Independent’s review of Saw X, critic Clarisse Loughrey said: “Ten films in and it’s a routine we’re so intimately familiar with that it’d be hard to call any element of Saw X original but returning director Kevin Greutert knows what’ll satisfy his audience: a few buckets of blood and the gag-inducing sound of crunching bone. Here, they’ll get exactly what they want.”

Responding to reports that the film’s production has stalled, one fan wrote on X: “That sucks. I fell in love with the franchise after seeing Saw X. I couldn't believe how good it was, so I went back and watched all of the movies. It's now my second favorite horror franchise behind Halloween.”

“I hear Saw 11 might be cancelled. I was really looking forward to this movie, it actually is one of my most anticipated movies of the year. It's already been delayed, as it was supposed to come out last year,” said another.

“Talk about FUMBLING the bag. Saw X put the franchise back on the map. And at an all-time high too. 11 should’ve been a no-brainer.”

The Independent has reached out to representatives of Lionsgate for comment.