While a Spiral 2 (or a Saw 10) has yet to be greenlit, Spiral: From the Book of Saw does a lot to set the stage for an eventual follow-up. For most of the 2000s, the Saw franchise dominated box office horror, especially around Halloween, with commercials in October declaring, “if it’s Halloween, it must be Saw.” Every year from 2004 through 2010, a new Saw movie hit theaters, each serving to expand the lore surrounding twisted villain John “Jigsaw” Kramer (Tobin Bell).
In the latter part of the decade though, it began to become clear that the Saw story seemed to be hitting a creative wall. Saw 6, released in 2009, surprised many by being quite good, but perhaps due to the decidedly average Saw 5, Saw 6 brought in the least money in the franchise to date. That led Lionsgate to commission a seventh and supposedly final Saw to tie up the saga of Jigsaw and his apprentices. Saw: The Final Chapter was very profitable but earned a tepid response from fans. After seven years, Lionsgate tried to reboot things with the simply titled Jigsaw, but again, fan response wasn’t great, even if money was made.
Perhaps realizing that the endless need to tie everything back to John’s master plan had become a narrative albatross, Lionsgate, director Darren Lynn Bousman, and incoming star Chris Rock set out to shake the Saw series up with Spiral. Featuring a new Jigsaw killer with no direct ties to John, Spiral injects much-needed new life into the aging franchise and has been received warmly by many fans. Spiral also opened at #1, so it’s quite likely either a Saw 10 or Spiral 2 is on the way.
How Spiral Sets Up Saw 10
When it was reported right around the time Spiral was released that a Saw 10/Spiral 2 was already being considered, some fans might’ve thought it was premature. Once one has seen Spiral though, it becomes clear just how much everyone involved must’ve been thinking about a potential follow-up from the outset. Spiral leaves the door wide open for a sequel, with new Jigsaw copycat killer William Schenk (a.k.a. Emerson, played by Max Minghella) still at large, and his wanted alliance with honest cop Zeke Banks (Chris Rock) now seemingly torpedoed by William’s murder of Zeke’s dad Marcus Banks (Samuel L. Jackson).
Granted, Marcus was shown to have been a corrupt chief of police, who, despite his sterling public reputation, had no issue covering up and/or orchestrating all kinds of unlawful deeds by his officers. This even clearly included murder, judging by the fact that Marcus seems more upset with Zeke turning in a fellow cop for killing a witness than he does at the actual murderer. Still, justified or not, Zeke loved his father and likely won’t rest until he makes William pay for his own crimes. The two look to be on a collision course in Saw 10/Spiral 2, but that probably won’t be the straight up confrontation one might first expect.
After all, William didn’t make it as far as he has without being smart and knowing how to avoid getting caught. While Zeke will surely reveal his true identity to the rest of the police force, William may well skip town, looking for another corrupt group of cops or city officials to target, leaving Zeke to hunt him outside of proper jurisdiction. It’s also possible that William has his own associates who already believe in his cause, in the way John Kramer had apprentices. Either way, Zeke’s going to have his work cut out for him in Spiral‘s sequel.
