While the franchise started as a low-budget horror movie, it takes a lot to have these Saw Kino explained from the increasingly complex timeline. Despite the popularity of the franchise, there was a point where some critics complained that the further along the series progressed, The harder it was to keep up without seeing every entry in it, preferably recently. Whether this was a big issue is debatable, Saw Definitely tried its best to tie everything together for most of its run in a way that other horror series didn’t always try.
For the first eight movies, the series all followed one relatively consistent pattern Saw Plot point centered around John “Jigsaw” Kramer. However, the spinoff ninth installment Spiral It was years later with a copycat killer of sorts. 2023s Saw X Pulls off the shocking move of bringing Jigsaw back into the fold despite the fact that he died back in Seen where. Given his death, the movies that followed meant that the series used a lot of flashbacks that can make it confusing for even the most focused viewers.
Before Seeing (2004)
Jigsaw’s origins date back to 1994
Much of what unfolds in the US Saw Kino directly ties back to events that happened prior to 2004s Saw. Before becoming Jigsaw, John was a successful civil engineer, while his wife Jill opened and ran the Homeward Bond Clinic. With a son on the way, John and Jill were happy, until an addict named Cecil Adams robbed the clinic in 1994, causing Jill to lose the baby.
This sent John into suicidal depression, starting the downward spiral of his life. He developed brain cancer and due to a mistake by future apprentice Logan Nelson, and later a denial of care by insurance executive William Easton, was declared terminal. Amanda Young, another patient at Homeward Bound – who, unknown to John, talked Cecil into robbing the place – is abducted by John, and forced to undergo a test with the infamous reverse bear trap. She succeeds, emerges with a new appreciation for life, and joins John’s crusade.
During the same pre-Saw Period, detective Mark Hoffman tries to frame Jigsaw for the murder of his sister’s killer, leading John to reveal himself and blackmail Hoffman to become another apprentice. Detective David Tapp is then drawn into the Jigsaw investigation, and after the death of his partner by a Bobby Trap, Becomes obsessed with removing jigsaw. To try to throw Tap off, Hoffman and John attempt to frame Dr. Lawrence Gordon for the crimes.
See (2004)
The first movie takes place in 2001
2004s Saw John Kramer’s first major game begins in 2001, almost a decade after the accident that set him on the dark path to becoming the Jigsaw Killer. Dr. Lawrence Gordon and photographer Adam Stanheight are abducted by John and Amanda and trapped in a disgusting toilet. Adam was hired to take care of Gordon previously by Detective Tap, who is hot on Jigsaw’s trail. Also involved was Zep Hindle, an orderly who worked at the hospital where John was treated.
Jigsaw demands Gordon kill Adam, or his kidnapped wife and daughter will die. Gordon fails, but Tap arrives and his family survives. Tap pursues Zep but gets shot, then Zep is killed by Adam. Finally, the master threat comes true, as John reveals that he was the “dead body” in the room with them the whole time, long after Gordon had cut off his own leg to try to escape, leaving the two men to die.
After the events of the first Saw Movie, flashbacks later in the franchise reveal that John returns and nurses Dr. Gordon back to health, who then becomes another apprentice – albeit one unknown to Jigsaw apprentices Amanda Young and Mark Hoffman. Additionally, Amanda kills Adam, without telling John, taking her first step toward becoming (in John’s eyes) an out-and-out serial killer.
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Some characters that appear in the future Saw Kino also has some key events during this period. Detective Eric Matthews is being investigated by internal affairs for abusive suspects and becomes the next major jigsaw test subject, due to this and his tendency to lie under oath and frame innocent people. Bobby Dagen, the main character of Saw 7Begins his own lies about surviving Jigsaw around this time as well, while William Easton denies life-saving care to Harold Abbott, whose family would eventually decide to kill him in the end Saw 6.
Saw X (2023)
Takes place shortly before the events seen (with some overlap)
The last installment in the franchise is 2023’s Saw XAnd it’s a return to the roots of the series. Wow Jigsaw And Spiral Are the two installments to barely feature John Kramer or not include him at all, Saw X Put him back in the front. Saw X is a prequel set between 2004s Saw and 2005s Saw 2. It shows one of John’s earliest games, with him taking revenge on some doctors who ran a fraudulent medical center in Mexico.
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The last moments of Saw X Also show John sets up the trap for Dr. Gordon and Adam Stanheight with the help of Hoffman. Amanda also features heavily in see x And it shows the first time she helped John set up and execute his tests and traps. The last one Saw Movie is shown to take place shortly before the events of Saw In the timeline, that puts it roughly in 2001.
Saw 2 (2005)
The second saw movie takes place in 2002
Although no specific dates are given, it’s widely accepted that saw II Takes place about a year later Saw in the timeline, Meaning that it was set in 2002. John’s next big test occurs with Eric Matthews, who is forced to watch as his teenage son and a bunch of people he wrongfully locks up with their own tests in an abandoned house.
It turns out that the footage shown to Eric was pre-recorded, and his son was kept in a literal safe in the same room the entire time. After beating John to a bloody pulp, Eric was left locked inside the bathroom of the first Saw By Amanda, who participated in the game under the guise of a victim.
It is in between Saw 2 And Saw 3 And 4 That John’s health is also rapidly deteriorating.
There are also some key events that, through flashbacks, have been revealed to have taken place after the events of Saw 2 In the six months between it and Saw 3 And 4. Immediately after the events of saw 2, Eric manages to escape the bathroom but is badly injured in the process. He gets into a bloody fight with Amanda, which leaves him for dead, but Hoffman slaps Eric up. Eric is kept locked up for months, while Detective Hoffman pretends to be investigating the Jigsaw case and Jill Tuck.
It is also during this period that Dr. Gordon and John select brain surgeon Dr. Lynn Denlon for his next big game, which would revolve around her and her husband Jeff, whose son was killed by a drunk driver. John also forces his slimy ex-lawyer Art Blank into service, meanwhile Amanda begins designing inescapable traps, against John’s twisted ethics. It is in between Saw 2 And Saw 3 And 4 That John’s health is also rapidly deteriorating.
Saw 3 (2006) & Saw 4 (2007)
Both take place in late 2002, six months after Saw 2
Saw 3 And Saw 4The events need to be grouped together for clarity’s sake, as the two films take place simultaneously. Once again, it is small to put both movies in a specific year, but it was Confirmed they take place six months later saw 2, Meaning they fall in late 2002 in the Saw Timeline. John is close to death at this point and knows he won’t be alive much longer. For her part, Jill begs him to give up his crusade, but he refuses.
This is also the point that the relationships between John’s apprentices begin to break down, with Amanda and Hoffman at odds. Hoffman is angling to get Amanda out of the way, and he uses his knowledge of her involvement with John’s son’s death to accomplish this.
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While Lynn and Jeff Denlon are being tested, police officer Daniel Rigg takes part in his own series of tests, organized by Hoffman, and involving Eric Matthews. Rigg was then framed for the Jigsaw killings. Lynn and Jeff were both ultimately killed, The latter by FBI agent Peter Straham in a misunderstanding after Jeff had just caused Jigsaw’s death. Amanda also died, as did Eric and Rigg, leaving Homan to take over as the new Jigsaw.
Saw 5 (2008)
The next seen movie takes place in 2003
Saw V Starts shortly after the events of Seen where And saw IV, with The consensus that they must therefore be put in 2003 in the Saw Timeline. Agent Strahm is attacked from behind and placed in a water cube trap by Hoffman, but manages to escape through an improvised tracheotomy with a pen. Hoffman “rescues” Jeff and Lynn’s kidnapped daughter Corbett, and becomes a hero in the press, but Strahm quickly becomes suspicious of him. John leaves behind a posthumous tape that informs Hoffman of what’s to come.
The main test and the subjects are not really the story Saw 5As the focus is on Hoffman’s attempts to stay ahead of Strahm and his partner Agent Perez, Who fakes her death in order to try and shake Hoffman up. Strham confronts Hoffman, but the latter gets the last laugh, because Strham fails a fairly simple test and is crushed to death.
Saw 6 (2009)
The sixth seen movie was also set in 2003
Very little time passes between Saw V And seen as Meaning that it’s highly likely both took place in 2003 in the Saw Timeline. Saw 6s central play tests William Easton, who is forced to reckon with his company’s history of denying life-saving care and always collecting money over humanity. Meanwhile, Hoffman uses Strahm’s severed hand to try and frame him for the Jigsaw murders.
Perez and her FBI boss Erickson eventually catch him red-handed, but Hoffman kills everyone in the room and then burns it to destroy the evidence. Unknown to him though, John had taught Jill to put Hoffman in the Saw reverse bear trap as his own test and also asked dr. Gordon to act in case something happened to Jill. Hoffman survives to set up the next movie.
Saw 7 (2010)
The movie also known as Saw 3D takes place in 2004
Once again, there is not much time that passes in between Seen VII (Also known as see 3D) And seen as Meaning that the 7 Saw The film probably takes place in early 2004, or late 2003 at the earliest. After patching himself up, Hoffman targets Jill, but not before she seeks help from internal affairs cop Mark Gibson, who saw Hoffman shoot a man years earlier. Unfortunately, police protection is not enough.
The main game sees self-help guru and purported survivor of the Jigsaw Bobby Dagen undergo a series of tests due to his ongoing lies. Hoffman massacres a bunch of cops, using Dagen’s game as a ploy to get Gibson out of the police station and get in, before killing Jill with the reverse bear trap. The joke is on Hoffman though, as Gordon abducts him and leaves him to die in the original Saw Bathroom.
Jigsaw (2017)
Set in 2010 (although this is a point of contention in the fanbase)
2017s jigsaw, The eight Saw movie, is where the timeline gets incredibly complicated and has led to some serious plot holes with the chronology. Jigsaw Takes place eight years after John’s death, although it features yet another character who turns out to be working for Jigsaw. The main game is seen on the screen in JigsawRun by previously unknown apprentice Logan Nelson, actually occurred sometime before the first Saw Movie.
The movie’s “present day” timeline is set in 2010 – in theory, at least, if the phone-date timeline is set in 2004 Saw is followed. If viewers believe that John’s death occurred in 2006 rather than 2002, as per the Morticians tag, it is set around 2014. Regardless of the specific year, in the current events of JigsawAn older Logan frames a corrupt cop named Detective Halloran for the new killings, as revenge for Halloran letting a killer go free who later murdered Logan’s wife. Finally, Nelson is never mentioned again.
Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021)
Set an unspecified length of time after John Kramer’s death
Spiral is set in the same area, an unclear number of years after the events of Jigsaw. Outside of the new killer William Schenck lifting some of John’s methods, there is no other direct connection between the two characters or the previous Saw Stories. It was revealed that years before SpiralProtagonist detective Zeke Banks witnesses his partner Peter Dunleavy murdering a witness.
Zeke exposed Dunleavy, making him a pariah in the overall corrupt force. Dunleavy’s victim, a man named Emerson, is actually William’s fatherAnd William took Jigsaw’s mantle as an adult in order to clean up the police department. His ultimate goal was to implicate Zeke as an accomplice after testing him, but Zeke refused, and his former corrupt chief father died as a result.
When will Saw XI be set?
The last sequel is expected in 2025
Saw X Could be the last Saw movie, but that’s not the end of the franchise. Saw 11 has been confirmed and is currently in development, although nothing has been revealed about the story yet, including where it will fit into the wider Saw Timeline. However, given the success of Saw X As a prequel, it probably means that See XI Will follow the same route. Tobin Bell as John Kramer was a key part of the draw Saw Movies, and those that don’t have any great features from him, have, historically, been much less successful.
Should it be a prequel, then See XI Will probably happen after the events of 2004 seen, Given that the final rating of Saw X Were from the first jigsaw test audience were introduced to be set up. See XI Being a prequel would also present an opportunity to bring in Logan Nelson Jigsaw Further in, explaining his place in the broad Saw Cannon more thoroughly.
Where potential Saw spinoffs would land on the timeline
With the success of Saw X In 2023, the long-running horror movie franchise will continue to have a future with some enticing possible spinoffs along the way. After Mark Hoffman’s character made his return in the post-credit scene of Saw XProducers indicated their plans to have the franchise continue with a movie focused on Hoffman (via Dexterto). They also confirmed that one Saw X Character is kept alive for the future with Cecilia set up as a potential returning enemy (via slash film).
If this is the direction the franchise is heading in, there are some questions about how this will affect the timeline. Hoffman’s fate in the Saw Franchise, like Cecilia’s, is left in question as he was locked in SawS iconic basement prison to presumably die. This would suggest that his return would be a prequel that took place earlier in the timeline, and with Cecilia possibly returning, it would take place after the events of Saw X.
However, it would seem odd to make a prequel about Hoffman, since so much of the character’s backstory has already been explored in flashbacks. Instead, it may be revealed that Both Hoffman and Cecilia escaped being left to die and the events could happen at the end of the Saw Timeline. With both John Kramer and Amanda dead, Cecilia may come looking to exact revenge on the man who took the Jigsaw mantle in their absence.