Tobin Bell confirms he will return for Saw XI: 'John Kramer is not done'

The saga of John Kramer is far from over, or as actor Tobin Bell says in a new interview with Los Angeles Times, "John Kramer is not done. There's more to learn."

There's been little doubt that Bell would return for the upcoming eleventh film in Lionsgate's long-running horror franchise, but it's always nice to get confirmation. Saw movies have been coming out regularly since the 2004 film that started it all, though it wasn't until Saw X that critics finally began to take these movies seriously. And there's no doubt that a significant reason for that is due to Bell's consistently fantastic performances.

One of the franchise's biggest mistakes was killing off John too early, forcing the writers to devise increasingly elaborate timeline-shifting to keep his character— who is the true mastermind behind the Jigsaw murders and thus the heart and soul of the series—in play, whether that be through tricky sequencing or flashbacks.

Then came the tenth movie, released in 2023, which took us all the way back to the start and brought back another vital character: Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith). Saw X smartly acted as an interquel between Saw and Saw II, creating a new access point for the franchise's future. It finally honed in on what really makes the series continue to be a hit for fans year after year, and that's John Kramer and his twisted moral compass.

Yes, some fans are just avid gorehounds who like to see increasingly gruesome traps, but as Bell tells LA Times interviewer Carlos Aguilar, most of the questions he fields from fans revolve around "the big moral questions."

While Bell obviously doesn't condone John's way of thinking, he does understand where his view of the world comes from.

"John feels that the world has been taken over by mediocre people. He believes we all have to deal with the consequences of what we create. And that these people are not appreciative of what they have."

Saw X was successful because it delves into John's psyche. It's a far more personal movie than we've ever seen before, with John truly acting as the main character. We learn all about how he was scammed by a group of people into believing they could cure him of his terminal brain tumor, only to then have the curtain ripped back, and the entire thing revealed as a fraud.

The tenth movie was also smart enough to leave its most interesting new character alive in Synnøve Macody Lund's Cecilia Pederson. She proves to be a potentially fascinating adversary for John and Amanda to face off against in Saw XI and it looks like that's the direction the eleventh film is headed, though Lund's involvement is not confirmed.

Writer Marcus Dunstan previously described the next Saw as an "angry" film with "something new to say," and I'm sure if Bell as John is at the center of that story again, we'll all be listening with bated breath.

As for whether Bell ever feels trapped by his role as the methodical serial killer? His answer might surprise you. He's not concerned with being "pigeonholed" and believes it gives him a chance to "create a rich acting experience" that allows him to maybe change the audience's perception of him.

The 82 year old actor genuinely seems to enjoy peeling back John's many layers.

"Each film is a different story and John’s in a different place. Same guy but different circumstances."

We cannot wait to see what Bell and the writers cook up for Saw XI.

Saw XI is currently set to release theatrically on September 26, 2025.