Saw III | Saw IV | Saw 3D | Spiral
All spoilers for the final movie will be unmarked ahead. Read on or go back—make your choice.
- Originally, Saw IV was supposed to be a direct sequel to Saw III, starting with Jeff and Chris (the man with whom Lynn had in an affair, who would have had to choose the decision of revenge or forgiveness this time around) dying in a blender trap whose idea was later reused for the Cycle Trap in Jigsaw. Eric was going to be the main character, passing his test with the help of a poisoned Hoffman, who at the end would be revealed as a Jigsaw apprentice like in the final film.
- This draft would have featured the first onscreen appearance of the woman Eric divorced from and Daniel's mother, who was given the name of Gloria.
- Brett, Gordon's lawyer from the first movie, originally took the role that Art has in the final version of the film; instead of Art's Spine Cutters, he was going to have a bracelet that would inject him with poison if he didn't follow Jigsaw's instructions. Jeff Ridenhour was going to return as an accomplice as well, taking the duty of watching over Strahm and Perez; he would have placed the explosive Billy in their car. Another accomplice planned was a police captain named Chang.
- It was suggested that the origin of Billy's tricycle and Obi's connection to Jigsaw would be explained, but this never came to pass.
- Cecil Adams wasn't present in the movie's early scripts; instead, Jill's miscarriage was supposed to be caused from her being affected by collateral damage from one of many fights between her clients in her clinic, with no specific culprit.
- In regards to the Mausoleum Trap, the winch was originally going to be on the ceiling and eventually hang Art and Trevor. The final shooting script has Trevor tearing an eye open, and he dies by the chains pulling him too close to the machine, snapping his neck, rather than by Art killing him. Art is shown finding the tape recorder right after the trap, rather than waiting until the end of the movie to show it as a flashback. This idea was later reused for the Chain Hangers in Jigsaw.
- Rigg would have told Hoffman that he wouldn't go home until he found Eric, saying "I made that promise to Daniel." In the final film, Daniel (who wouldn't physically appear in any later movie in the series) is only referenced via a reused photo.
- Speaking of photos, the final shooting script mentions pictures hung up in the police precinct of Tapp and Sing, with the message "Your sacrifice will never be forgotten."
- Hoffman's "trap" had him hanging on a meat hook, with the pool of water collecting under him. The idea was that once time ran out, he would be released from the hook, and fall into the water, getting electrocuted.
- The classroom for the Rex and Morgan trap is the same one from Troy's trap, and its significance in Rigg finding it is in the notion of "Become the teacher and teach her how to save a life."
- In Jigsaw's first lair, when he shows it to Jill, there were going to be miniature versions of all his future traps, all having been performed on rats, with mangled rats all over the room. This was probably cut so that he would look more empathetic.
- Eric would have still thought Amanda is doing everything, since Art was initially walking around the room in a hood. Eric would ask Hoffman if the "junkie bitch" got him too, and keep yelling at the hooded Art as if he was Amanda, telling him insults like "You fucking bitch!"
- At one point when Eric jumps off the ice block, Art comes over to him and Eric swings his legs around Art's neck, trying to break it, and then fight for a little while.
- Morgan and Rex were originally going to be an elderly couple. They were made younger after it was considered that it would have been too disturbing to see a pair of elders as victims in a trap.
- John was setting up a TV in front of Cecil, and Cecil woke up early, so then John just played a remote that turned the TV on, and there was a doll message for Cecil, without the whole conversation that him and John actually had in the final film.
- In the motel, with Ivan and the dog, was a drunk, homeless man sleeping on the floor known simply as the "vagrant". In a recorded scene from an earlier version of the script, when Jigsaw takes the cover off the Glass Coffin, the vagrant was going to be the victim in the trap, where he had to find a key among a bunch of glass shards in order to escape. The scene was deleted after the MPAA deemed it to be too violent and has never been included in any home media releases, but some promotional photos
of the original trap were taken and revealed to the public in the lead up to the movie's release. - Darren Lynn Bousman, the director, had a different ending and fate for Rigg in mind that was never shot: "What if he didn't open the door? Again, make the twist being something different. He actually didn't do it. He stops at the door, he breaks down crying, doesn't save him. He gets up and sees Agent Strahm with the gun. Strahm sees Lyriqnote with the gun, thinks he's Jigsaw and just shoots and kills Lyriq there."
- Writer Patrick Melton wanted Rigg to join Hoffman in carrying on Jigsaw's legacy at the end, but Executive Meddling prevented this.
- Also, Amanda was supposed to survive the third film, but the cast decided during filming to end the film on a downer with everyone dying. Had that not happened, Amanda would have likely been in this film as a major antagonist.
- Before Ingrid Hart filled the role, Athena Karkanis was originally auditioned to play Tracy Rigg.
- There's a deleted scene from the final script that continues the ending by having Hoffman calls for backup and avoiding booby traps on his way out of the meatpacking plant, while Strahm finds a hidden space with an empty box.
