Follow TV Tropes

Following

All There In The Manual / Saw

Go To

All spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Read on or go back — make your choice.


The Saw franchise already has a complicated storyline thanks to its constant use of Reveals and Sequencing Deceptions, but Word of God and numerous media/extra material explain and clarify numerous plot points that weren't shown or addressed in the movies.

In general:

  • This interview with Patrick Melton, co-writer of Saw IV-3D, reveals many things that weren't explained across the whole series:
    • Hoffman and Amanda knew that Lawrence survived, but they did not know that he helped out with some traps.
    • Hoffman did want Rigg to survive his test in Saw IV.
    • Although Saw VI makes it appear that Jill tampered with the Reverse Bear Trap 2.0 before putting it on Hoffman to try and make it unwinnable (seemingly against John's supposed desire to give Hoffman a chance of survival), Melton said that Hoffman was actually given no instructions on how to survive the Reverse Bear Trap 2.0 because John did intend him to die, since it was Jill's "way out."
    • John was aware about Amanda's involvement in his unborn child's death, but if they ever got to talk about it, he would have forgiven her (this still doesn't explain what John had meant to leave for Amanda in the drawer in Saw III, though).
    • The house that Mallick from Saw V had burned is not the Nerve Gas House from Saw II (the Nerve Gas House is actually the building where Strahm finds Hoffman).
    • Hoffman wanted to carry on Jigsaw's legacy, but make it more like his own legacy.
    • In the origin storyline from Saw VI, John met William after his suicide attempt.
    • Lawrence still planned to return to the Bathroom to rescue Adam after being healed by John, but Amanda had already gotten to Adam by the time Lawrence was able to leave.

Saw:

  • You have to play the first video game to find out the exact (albeit non-canon) fates of David Tapp and Jeff Ridenhour.

Saw II:

  • Some of the Nerve Gas House's victims' backstories are explained in the DVD commentary for Saw II. They were meant to be actually seen in the film, but their correspondent scenes were cut for pacing reasons.
    • Addison was a prostitute (which is only implied in the finished film and Saw IV) who was once caught having sex with Eric in the back of a police car, leading to Eric receiving a demotion. He then incarcerated Addison out of spite.
    • Gus was a money embezzler. The razor box was actually meant for Gus (as a reference to the proverb of "trying to reach the cookie jar"), but he didn't get to play his game due to him being shot by the peephole gun. Addison's unseen trap was apparently going to involve an waffle iron-like grill pressed against her face while she was restrained to a chairnote , but she was ultimately the victim of the box instead.
    • Laura was a shoplifter.

Saw III:

  • The film's shooting script has Amanda tying the drain stopper to Adam's leg, revealing that she messed up his game and doomed him.
  • An early draft of Saw IV that would have been a direct sequel to Saw III would have shown Jeff's game to which John alludes at the end of Saw III. It would have had him dying in a blender trapnote , along with Chris, the man with whom Lynn had an affair. Even though neither this scene nor the trap made it to the film, it still explains what game John wanted Jeff to play to find his daughter.

Saw IV:

  • The full script of Art's tape after winning the Mausoleum Trap (which only the beginning of is heard in the film itself) can be read in this transcript excerpt.
  • Two photos of a deleted scene and transcript extract for this movie (as seen in this Reddit post from the Saw subreddit) clarify that the reason the police only arrived at the Gideon Meatpacking Plant in the beginning of Saw V was because Hoffman called them while on his way to lock up Strahm.

Saw V:

  • In this interview with Patrick Melton, it's stated that Brit survived after finishing her last test in Saw V, clarifying her fate in comparison to Mallick, who later returned in 3D.

Saw VI:

  • The original letter John meant to deliver to Amanda in Saw III before Hoffman swapped it with his own, as shown in the correspondent flashback from Saw VI, is never seen in the films themselves, but it was actually made (with writing from Tobin Bell) and photographed, as seen in these Tumblr posts and this tweet from a Twitter user who compiles unused content from the franchise. Interestingly, the letter mentions a character named "Anthony McDonald".
  • Pamela Jenkins is relatively fine after the events of Saw VI. She was planned to make a cameo in the survivor meetup in 3D, but her actress wasn't able to make it into the film.

Saw 3D:

  • The script for Saw 3D mentions that John and Lawrence were in the crowd watching the Public Execution Trap, thus meaning that it took place prior to Saw II and that it was the first trap to which Lawrence contributed. Further Word of God has stated that there was a deleted shot panning to the two of them, which was present in some script-related material.
  • It's stated in the movie's DVD Commentary that Lawrence did see his family again, but that his wife divorced him due to his unstable mindset. The commentary also reveals that the two pig-masked accomplices who helped him in capturing Hoffman were Brad and Ryan from the Public Execution Trap.

Spiral:

  • Benny Wrights' name and connection to Schenk are only given in the credits of Spiral and the external material surrounding it.

Top