Back in May, we reported that Chris Rock is teaming with a handful of Saw veterans to produce another installment in the perversely enjoyable (if critically maligned) franchise. Now, with the film heading into production this week, Bloody Disgusting has confirmed that the film will star not only Rock, but Samuel L. Jackson as well. As much as we love Tobin Bell, we’re really, really hoping that it’s Jackson who wants to play a game this time around. John Kramer’s dead, people! He’s been dead since the third movie!
Nobody knows that better than Darren Lynn Bousman, who directed Saw II, Saw III, and Saw IV, a.k.a. the one where Jigsaw gets autopsied. Rock conceived the story of this new entry, though it was penned by Jigsaw writers Pete Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg so don’t expect it to veer too far from the series’ tried-and-true formula of grimy people chopping off their noses to get a key or whatever.
For now, though, we’re all trapped in a clunky, sharp steel brace that won’t unlock until October 23, 2020.
UPDATE (10:50 A.M.): Lionsgate has confirmed Jackson and Rock’s casting, per TheWrap. The studio’s also revealed that, plot-wise at least, the film won’t be veering far from the Saw playbook. Rock, like so many others before him, will play a detective investigating a series of grisly crimes, while Max Minghella and Marisol Nichols will play fellow cops. Jackson, meanwhile, will play Rock’s father, which, by the way, doesn’t mean he’s still not Jigsaw.
“We think Samuel L. Jackson and Chris Rock along with Max Minghella and Marisol Nichols make this film completely special in the Saw canon and we can’t wait to unleash this unexpected and sinister new story on fans of this franchise. This is next level of Saw on full tilt,” says Joe Drake, chairman of the Lionsgate motion picture group.