Detective David Tapp (Danny Glover) played a key role in the first Saw, and while he never appeared in the sequels, other material reveals his fate. When James Wan and Leigh Whannell collaborated to make Saw in 2004, it's unlikely either realized successful Hollywood careers were about to be officially launched for both of them. It's also unlikely they predicted that their low-budget movie about a villain who uses intricate traps to kill his targets would spawn a blockbuster franchise.
Yet, both of those things happened, and as the franchise went on, most of the characters from the first film would return for later appearances. Glover's Tapp would not be one of them though, for reasons never fully explained. Perhaps Glover just wasn't interested in being part of another long-term franchise at that later stage of his career, but the role would never be recast, and Tapp would never appear onscreen again, outside of archive footage.
Thanks to the wonders of officially licensed expansion material though, fans actually can know what ultimately became of Detective Tapp after the first Saw. Tapp was the main, player-controlled character in 2009's Saw: The Video Game, released for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. Here's what happened to him.
What Happened To Detective Tapp?
At the end of the original Saw movie, Danny Glover's Detective Tapp is shot in the chest by Zep Hindle (Michael Emerson), another person forced to play Jigsaw's games, and left for dead. One would assume Tapp died from his wound, but that turns out not to be the case, according to Saw: The Video Game. In the game, players assume control of Tapp, whose life is saved by Jigsaw, only for him to be placed inside the reverse bear trap Amanda Young once escaped from. The player is tasked with pulling off his own escape, then must continue playing Jigsaw's games in order to survive.
At the end of the game, Tapp is left with two doors to pick from after chasing down Jigsaw, one labeled "Truth" and another labeled "Freedom." Freedom allows Tapp to escape, along with the other people he helped save from Jigsaw traps during his personal tests. Truth lets Tapp know more about the games he just endured, but means he fails his final test. Freedom sees Tapp indeed freed, and he's labeled a hero for surviving Jigsaw and rescuing others. However, his failure to learn Jigsaw's true identity or apprehend him haunts Tapp, and he ultimately commits suicide. And that's the "good" ending.
In Truth, Tapp learns that the "Jigsaw" he's been chasing is actually Melissa Sing, the wife of his late partner. Melissa was forced to take part after Jigsaw kidnapped her son, and had her mouth sewn shut so she couldn't reveal her identity to Tapp. Melissa runs into a shotgun booby trap and dies after being mistakenly beaten to a pulp by Tapp, and the guilt from her death causes him to lose touch with reality and end up in an asylum, convinced he's still taking part in Jigsaw's games. Yep, there's no happy ending for Tapp either way in Saw. For what it's worth, the sequel game, Saw 2: Flesh and Blood, makes the "Freedom" ending the true conclusion.
