The Saw franchise has never fully explained Jigsaw’s relationship with his most confounding apprentice, but Saw 11 is the filmmakers’ chance to finally fill in those blanks. After the massive success of Saw X – not just commercially but also, surprisingly, critically – it’s only a matter of time before the producers make Saw 11. It’s not a question of “if,” it’s a question of “when.” As soon as a writer comes to the studio with a good enough story, they’ll greenlight Saw 11 and start work on the next gruesome entry in the long-running horror franchise.
The Saw films are always popular among horror fans, but they’re especially popular when Tobin Bell reprises his role as the series’ main villain, John Kramer, a.k.a. the Jigsaw Killer. Over the years, Jigsaw has taken on a few apprentices who help him out with his elaborate traps and schemes to get his victims to appreciate life. In some cases, these apprentices’ allegiance to Jigsaw makes sense. But there’s one Jigsaw apprentice whose connection to the killer seems baffling and nonsensical. Saw 11 is a chance to explain that.
Saw 11 Should Explain Why Gordon Became Jigsaw’s Apprentice
It makes sense why Amanda Young became Jigsaw’s apprentice, because she genuinely believed he helped her, and it makes sense why Mark Hoffman became Jigsaw’s apprentice, because blackmail forced him to. But it seems a lot less believable that Dr. Lawrence Gordon would become one of Jigsaw’s apprentices. Gordon was one of Jigsaw’s first on-screen victims. He ended up severing his own foot to free himself and the sequels revealed that he cauterized his wound before passing out. Jigsaw found him and nursed him back to health, after which Gordon became his apprentice.
But that skips over a huge chunk of the story. Did Gordon become Jigsaw’s apprentice simply because he saved him from dying? Jigsaw was the reason he was so close to death in the first place. Gordon had a family to go back to, but he ended up working with Jigsaw instead. The franchise has never really filled in the blanks about why Gordon would work for Jigsaw after everything he went through. He could really use a backstory for everything that happened after the original Saw in an upcoming sequel.
A Better Gordon Backstory Would Bring The Saw Franchise Full Circle
Going back to the Gordon character and filling in his backstory in Saw 11 would bring the Saw franchise full circle. The Saw franchise has gone on for so long that attempts have been made to branch away from the Jigsaw story with standalone installments like Spiral: From the Book of Saw. But those standalone spin-offs have never been as successful as the mainline movies, because all roads lead back to Jigsaw. In Saw 11, it’s time to place the focus back on Gordon to bring the next Saw film right back to the original.
