When Jigsaw first hit cinemas in 2017, longtime fans were left wondering why the movie was made since Saw basically wrapped up everything in Saw: The Final Chapter (or Saw 3D to most). For all the Saw movies’ faults, the narrative was as tight as it could be, even if it left some plot threads and burning questions dangling.
Now, we’re just months away from this horror franchise’s second revival in Spiral: From the Book of Saw, which props itself up as a canon spin-off and continuation of the story. The trailer is keeping most of the plot a secret, leaving many to speculate as to where it would pick up from and what longtime questions it could answer. Here are 10 questions from the previous Saw movies and canon that we hope Spiral can finally put to rest.
Are The Games Canon?
Believe it or not, Saw inspired two video games: Saw: The Video Game and Saw II: Flesh & Blood for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. The first game centered around Det. Tapp from Saw while the sequel followed his son as he tried piece together what happened to his father.
In the games, it’s revealed that Det. Tapp went mad and eventually died after he tried but failed to capture Jigsaw yet again. Det. Tapp is also dead in the movies’ canon, but it’s never clarified if he died in Saw after Zepp shot him or if he passed on a later date as implied by the games. This seems like a decent explanation for Tapp’s absence in Saw – that is, if the games are canon.
Did The Police Ever Find The Bathroom?
Saw famously begins in a bathroom and the sequels often revisit this now iconic horror setting, whether in a flashback or not. But despite it being the most famous location in the franchise, the cops never, ever seem to know where it is.
Previously, the police have found almost every other trap room and maze, finding tons of evidence, bodies, and clues that led to Jigsaw’s whereabouts. So why can’t they find this particular bathroom? After all, finding it would finally resolve that missing person’s case about a one Adam Stanheight plus the added bonus of Hoffman’s corpse – provided the disgraced cop actually died there.
Were There Any Jigsaw Copycats?
The sick reality of serial killers is that the more notorious ones have always inspired imitators. By all counts, Jigsaw is a serial killer and this begs the question as to whether or not he inspired copycats or not. Interestingly, the current canon says otherwise. Instead, Jigsaw had apprentices who he allowed to continue his work.
Whether or not they succeeded is subjective, but nonetheless, he gave them his seal of approval. Given Jigsaw’s high profile case in the movies’ setting, was anyone inspired in a demented way to imitate his works or recreate them? This may be the case in Spiral, where the Jigsaw murders have resurfaced after years of quiet.
What Happened To The Other Survivors?
An interesting element introduced in Saw 3D was the survivors’ group made of former Jigsaw victims. This wasn’t really delved too deeply into since it wasn’t the sequel’s priority, but it was a clever idea nonetheless. That being said, what happened to these people and are there more of them?
The survivors’ group is one of the few elements in the Saw series that helps ground its otherwise heightened concept and makes things a bit more believable than expected. It would be a shame if this isn’t revisited and improved upon, since Saw 3D had the right foot forward but didn’t bother going down that path.
Where’s Logan?
Jigsaw ended with the reveal that Logan Nelson, an unassuming medical examiner, was actually the very first Jigsaw apprentice. Years after Jigsaw’s death in Saw III, Logan restarts the games to exact justice on the crooked cop Halloran. To quote him, he’s speaking for the dead.
So what has Logan been up to in the time between Jigsaw and Spiral? The first soft reboot’s ending seemed to hint that Logan would follow his mentor’s footsteps and carry on his work. Is he orchestrating the new Jigsaw-styled traps in Spiral or is someone else at fault?
Is Hoffman Really Dead?
At the end of Saw 3D, the duplicitous and murderous Hoffman finally meets his end when he’s locked to die in the same bathroom trap from Saw. His chances of escape are pretty slim but if there’s one thing we learned from Saw, characters aren’t dead unless their corpse is shown or someone explicitly confirms it.
Granted, the audio commentary states that Hoffman eventually died in the bathroom but for all we know, this was changed during the lead up to Spiral. Hoffman’s return could either make or break the movie, depending on how it’s done, but it’s still a lingering mystery that’s been nagging some fans ever since Saw 3D’s end credits.
What’s Dr. Gordon Up To?
Logan may be the most recent Jigsaw apprentice, but he’s not the only one around. Dr. Gordon – the original movie’s first victim – revealed himself to be one of Jigsaw’s disciples in Saw 3D’s last seconds. He then takes over Jigsaw’s real legacy by condemning Hoffman to a slow death in the same bathroom where he was reborn into Jigsaw’s follower.
But after bringing the franchise’s original timeline to an end, Dr. Gordon was never seen or heard of from again. Is Dr. Gordon continuing Jigsaw’s work and philosophy? Did he ever hear of Logan and work with him or otherwise? Only time will tell.
How Many More Apprentices Are There?
Let’s face it: there is another Jigsaw apprentice out there continuing the deceased John Kramer’s work. The question here isn’t if there is one since that’s a franchise staple that won't be going away any time soon. What’s more intriguing is just how many are there.
Over the course of Saw, it’s revealed that Jigsaw had a total of four apprentices (Amanda, Hoffman, Dr. Gordon, & Logan) – five if his widow Jill Tuck is included – and it won’t be too surprising if another previously unknown apprentice is carrying out his will almost 10 years later in Spiral.
Is It One Person Or An Entire Jigsaw Movement?
A quick little detail that some people may have missed is that Dr. Gordon wasn’t working alone. To dispose of Hoffman, Dr. Gordon had to pig-headed acolytes do the heavy lifting due to his disability. This all but confirms that there’s a Jigsaw cult somewhere out there but it’s never brought up in Jigsaw, where the game was all one man’s doing.
Now that the murderous traps and demented life lessons are back, the question about who the perpetrator is remains. Is the newest game the creation of a single serial killer or is it the first stage of a Jigsaw cult’s plan to remind the city of his twisted way of appreciating life? Jigsaw inspired some people, and Spiral could finally show what became of them.
Did Someone Ever Learn Jigsaw’s Lessons Correctly?
Jigsaw likes to fancy himself as a twisted philosopher but there’s one major problem: his students suck. Basically, every single one of his apprentices missed the point of his lessons in one way or another.
Cases in point: Amanda denied her subjects a fair chance because she determined their lives’ worth before the games even began, Hoffman just developed a psychotic bloodlust, and Logan went out for revenge. As of this writing, no one knows how Dr. Gordon’s games went but it’s worth noting that he all but left Hoffman for dead.
As implied by Spiral’s subtitle From the Book of Saw, someone is in fact taking notes from Jigsaw. The big question here isn’t about the traps or if Billy the Puppet will return – the most pressing concern is whether or not this successor understood what Jigsaw was preaching or not and how they’ll carry that out.