All spoilers for the final products will be unmarked ahead. Read on or go back—make your choice.
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A sketch for the earlier version of the Death Mask where Michael was restrained to his chair.
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In general
- Saw V, VI and 3D had a few unused promotional posters, as seen in these
two tweets and this Reddit post. - An unused prop from the films was a notebook detailing Amanda's backstory, including a number of scrapped details. Amanda's actress Shawnee Smith has kept the prop up to this day, even letting her daughter read it.
- Maybe not for those two films, but during the development between Jigsaw and Spiral, it was discussed about possibly bringing back Hoffman, who was last seen being left to die in Saw 3D, in a future film.
- At one point, Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, the writers of Saw IV to 3D, pitched an episodic anthology TV series for the Saw franchise that was never greenlit, under the Working Title of Jigsaw's Twisted Tales. Records of this proposed series were first given with the announcement of the book Phantom Limbs: Dissecting Horror's Lost Sequels and Remakes, which had the series as one of its covered topics. Going by the details cited in the book, many of the series' episodes would have verged into paranormal phenomena with little relation to the movies themselves, making the series stand out from the grounded setting present in the rest of the franchise.
Movies
Saw:
- Amanda Young's name was Amanda Denlon in early scripts of the film. This surname would be later recycled for the Denlon family in Saw III.
- The film underwent some significant changes in trap design and deaths.
- Mark Wilson, the victim of the Flammable Jelly, was supposed to die from poison after using his arm for a torch.
- Paul Leahy, the victim of the Razor Wire Maze, was originally tested for being greedy. In the finished film, Jigsaw tests him for attempting suicide despite living a satisfying life.
- Jeff Ridenhour, the victim of the Drill Chair, dies in the script but is saved in the finished movie.
- According to the commentary and different interviews, the creators wanted a booby trap that consisted of two things that would spring from the walls and snap shut on Sing and fold him up into a box; they described it as an iron cocoon. Another proposal involved a number of wires identical to the triggering tripwire stretching Sing's limbs until they broke. They brought down both ideas because it would have cost too much money for visual effects.
- These two ideas would later be brought up during the development of Saw III for the original concept of The Rack (which had a similar denomination to the second idea), only to be scrapped again.
- This trap was eventually featured in the first video game under the name of "Iron Maiden".
- According to an interview with Leigh Whannell, Adam and Lawrence were originally going to be trapped in an elevator or a basement instead of the Bathroom.
- Another setting involved Adam and Lawrence in separate rooms, communicating through a pipe between them which they would cut holes through with the hacksaws at the beginning of the film. Once the Bathroom came around, this was meant to be re-implemented via making Lawrence and Adam cut the respective pipes beside them in half to talk to each other better during Lawrence's plan to fake Adam's death. It was scripted and filmed (in fact, the cut pipes appear during the aforementioned scene and remain like that for the rest of the movie) but eventually rejected by James Wan, as he found it illogical for the hacksaws to be able to cut through pipes if they couldn't be used to break the shackles' chains.
- Another setting involved Adam and Lawrence in separate rooms, communicating through a pipe between them which they would cut holes through with the hacksaws at the beginning of the film. Once the Bathroom came around, this was meant to be re-implemented via making Lawrence and Adam cut the respective pipes beside them in half to talk to each other better during Lawrence's plan to fake Adam's death. It was scripted and filmed (in fact, the cut pipes appear during the aforementioned scene
- Paul's actor Mike Butters was originally casted as Jigsaw. Butters declined the role because he didn't think Jigsaw had enough exciting scenes in the film.
- Greg Kinnear was the actor initially proposed for Lawrence. Cary Elwes had to take his place because of Kinnear being unavailable at the time.
- According to an early script, Jigsaw was going to follow a dissonantly cheery aesthetic. Instead of just "Play me", the tape tags were going to read "Isn't this fun? Play me for the rules", and the tape voices were described as "high-pitched and cheerful".
- The meaning of the "follow your heart" line on Lawrence's tape was going to have a different take. Instead of a heart drawn on the toilet, Lawrence was meant to know about the toilet's whereabouts from the "TOILET" word being written on his chest.
- Instead of smashing Zep's head with the toilet lid, Adam was going to asphyxiate him with his shackle's chains. While doing so, he would say a Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "You wanna chain people up, you sick fuck? You'll die with your own chain!"
Saw II:
- Eric Matthews' name was originally Eric Mason.
- In the Death Mask, instead of having to cut an eye out to get the key, Michael was going to be supplied with the key in one of his hands, and would be strapped to the chair he wakes up from at the wrists. Above the hand with the key was a razor, which would dig further into his arm the more he reached the key up to the locks on his harness, to the point of being able to dismember the hand, as indicated in the trap's sketch featured in the Conceptual Art Gallery from the film's home video extras.
- According to the commentary, a blade had originally been intended to shoot forward out of the staircase and slice off the first SWAT officer's legs once said rigged step had been activated.
- In an early script, there were a number of general timers scattered across the Nerve Gas House that would inform the victims of how much time they have left before they die of the nerve gas agent.
- The writers had thought of having Obi's instruction tape attached to the collar of a pitbull dog in the basement. The producers decided against it, arguing that it would come off as animal cruelty, and instead attached it to a corpse-like mannequin.
- Another use considered for the pitbull, which was more explicit in animal cruelty, was for Jonas' trap, in which his task would have been to kill the (rabid in this case) dog with the bat Xavier carried and killed Jonas with in the final film; then he could get his antidote attached to the dog's collar safely.
- It was originally intended for Amanda to land up to her neck in the needles as if it were a pool, but realized that it would be impossible for her to sink into such a pool. Also, getting enough needles would have taken too long, as it took the production team a good chunk of time to get as many needles as they had.
- Addison was meant to press her face against a waffle iron, while she was shackled by the wrists to a chair, with razor blades ready to cut her if she tried to free her hands (the Razor Box she ended up getting into in the final film was meant for Gus); she was also meant to survive the trap. This trap was later redesigned as the Knife Chair in Saw IV.
- Henry Rollins and Lyriq Bent were both cast as Xavier. While the former simply dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, the latter was re-cast as Rigg because the producers didn't want to provoke Unfortunate Implications by making a drug dealer like Xavier a black man.
Saw V:
- Tapp was meant to return via flashbacks, but Danny Glover was unavailable at the time.
- Originally, in the Neck Tie Trap, the blades would be in the collars instead of being mounted on the wall behind the victims. It was also conceived that both Brit and Luba would somehow lose their shirts in the room and go through the rest of the film in just their bras. The idea was eventually thrown out, out of respect the producers had for their actresses.
- It was meant for Strahm to find the corpses of the victims from Saw II in the Nerve Gas House as he wandered through it.
- The Glass Coffin's room was originally supposed to fill up with water, ending the scene by drowning Strahm. However, the crew realized that it would be too difficult to shoot, so they had to re-think the scene. The final idea to have Strahm crushed between closing walls came from a drawing by director David Hackl's then-9-year-old son, which he made earlier during the production of Saw III. Hackl took the idea because he actually wanted to have an actual The Walls Are Closing In scene where the character doesn't escape the room in time and instead gets crushed.note
- Editor Kevin Greutert explained what was cut from the ending: "Originally, the "game of five" was connected more directly to Strahm. It's something they're trying to figure out all along. This is discovered in the final seconds and everyone believes that Strahm is Jigsaw's apprentice, essentially letting Hoffman off the hook. But it was much more fleshed out. It was also supposed to reveal that Jill knew that Hoffman was continuing Jigsaw's work."
Saw VI:
- Back when the film was greenlit, it was announced that Scott Patterson would play Strahm up to this film. An old idea for the film's ending involved Strahm killing Hoffman, which was supposed to close the series. Although not much information was given on this scrapped "Strahm vs. Hoffman" storyline, Patrick Melton has stated in a Tweet that it was too complex to pull out (with one idea involving a Sequencing Deception in which three storylines are Cut Apart).
- As a matter of fact, Patterson wasn't immediately informed of the script changes that led to the final version of Saw V with Strahm's death. In an interview, he said he was approached by the SFX team to make casts of his arms to create the false arms that are seen breaking from the pressure of the walls. When he asked why they were doing so, one of the members told him, "Oh, they didn't tell you? They're killing you off."
- Lionsgate wanted Hoffman to fight mafia.
- Well before the idea of Gordon's return came around for Saw 3D, director Kevin Greutert wanted Gordon to be back seeking revenge against Jigsaw's accomplices in this film. Survivors from previous films were also supposed to appear, though in a different role.
- According to an audio commentary with director Kevin Greutert, and writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan:
- In the Pound of Flesh, before Simone went to cut off her left forearm, she would have first tried to do the same with that arm's fingers (which she's seen hesitating to do in the actual scene), then with the hand.
- There were supposed to be ten people riding the Shotgun Carousel; they reason they changed it to six was because Saw VI was the sixth Saw film, and they saw that a similar symbology was previously used for the Fatal Five's victims in Saw V. Also, the shotgun was placed behind the victims' heads, rather than in front of their chests.
Jigsaw:
- Logan was initially meant to be named "Lee James" as a tribute to James Wan and Leigh Whannell. Said name was used in a second attempt for a cut coroner character.
- Christine Simpson, the actress of the TV show host Donna Evans from Saw 3D, was casted to return for this film, but she was removed at last minute. Her name can still be seen in the cast listing during the credits, with her character being cited as "Newcaster".
- The police chase in the film's opening was originally much longer.
- There was a deleted scene (which was likely never filmed) where Eleanor pulls a prank on Logan, namely by pulling him into a replica of the Cycle Trap with rubber blades.
Saw X:
- Saw X was originally meant to be the ninth Saw film, having been in development since as early as 2018. Its production was put on hold when Lionsgate's VP approved Chris Rock's pitch for Spiral.
- Kevin Greutert has said that he briefly toyed with the concept of using Digital De-Aging to return John, Amanda and Hoffman to their Saw II/III-era looks, but ultimately decided not to go through with it for budgetary and story reasons:Greutert: [Who] knows how much it would have detracted from how we experience their characters if there was any buffer between their performance and the audience experience? I'm glad about, and totally fine with, the fact that we see them as a little bit older than they probably should look, but at least we get them fully.
- The Brain Surgery Trap:
- The aftermath of the Brain Surgery Trap was originally going to be shown, but it was scrapped. However, a still image of an artist's recreation of the aftermath can be found online. View at your own risk.
- As seen in this storyboard of the trap, another planned outcome was the mechanical mask detaching from the rest of the trap once it closed on Mateo, in addition to the other restraints opening; Mateo would then briefly run in panic before slumping to the ground.
- The aftermath of the Brain Surgery Trap was originally going to be shown, but it was scrapped. However, a still image of an artist's recreation of the aftermath can be found online. View at your own risk
- A deleted scene, which was originally meant to be The Stinger before the final one was settled in, has Cecilia being freed from the Burning Gas Chamber Trap she was locked in at the end of the movie when its timer reaches zero and its door consequently unlocks. This scene was first made known when it appeared in the "Deleted Scenes" bonus feature for the movie's home video release.
Games
- Apparently, the first game was going to have Gordon as a Mr. Exposition, whom Tapp would get clues about throughout the game and encounter towards the end (one plan for this encounter was revealing that he was [Pighead). Upon review by Lionsgate (after the game was nearly complete), they nixed the idea because they had plans for Gordon in the then-upcoming seventh film. This caused the ending to be retroactively changed to instead involve Melissa, a character encountered earlier in the game, allowing already existing character artwork to be used rather than scrambling to create a brand new character at the last second.
- It's also been revealed recently that the first game had to be resubmitted to rating boards several times, toning down the gore, until finally passing with an M (Mature) rating. In fact, if you look closely at the PAL version of the game for Europe, you'll notice the gory trap cut scenes are edited differently from the North American version. Europe was apparently a little more lenient with what the developers could get away with, but even that edit of the game was toned way down from the developers' original, much gorier, intentions.
