Saw Timeline: How All The Movies Intersect

The Saw series is notorious for plot twists, flashbacks, and changing orders of events, so here’s a full breakdown of the films and their timeline.

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James Wan and Leigh Whannell’s first feature film, Saw would go on to become one of the most successful horror franchises in modern day. While detractors call it a brutal torture-fest that focuses more on killing and gore than story, the series actually boasts an intricate plot filled with psychological thrills and gripping twists and turns.

The series follows the Jigsaw killer who captures people he deems as unappreciative for the life they’ve been given. These people range from drug addicts to neo-nazis to uncaring healthcare workers, and boast varying levels of “deserving.” Jigsaw is usually John Kramer (Tobin Bell), but throughout the films, the role is filled by a variety of John’s minions and protégés.

Overall, the plots of the Saw franchise are highly interwoven with many twists and turns, and though some films offer dates, they tend to contradict one another. The best way to understand the sequence of events is to grasp the order in which things happen over the series as a whole, with the exception of Jigsaw, which is mostly disconnected from the rest of the franchise.

Before Saw: John Kramer’s Backstory (Saw III, IV, VI)

The majority of John Kramer’s backstory is presented through flashbacks in Saw IV. John is shown to be a successful civil engineer and devoted husband to his wife, Jill Tuck. In Saw III, flashbacks show John designing his first building, the Gideon Meatpacking Plant. In Saw IV, John encourages his wife to open the Homeward Bound Clinic for addicts. Also shown in Saw IV, Amanda Young becomes a patient at Jill’s clinic. Jill is now pregnant with her and John’s first child, Gideon. John shows Jill his new workshop and the wooden puppet, Billy, he has made for their son. During this time, John also meets Umbrella Health insurance company manager William Easton, who sponsors a party for Jill’s clinic, shown in Saw VI.

In Saw IV, John has now become the leader of the Urban Renewal Company. He and his lawyer, Art Blank, begin working on a new project for the creation of housing for families in need. At the same time, Amanda Young persuades a fellow patient at the Homeward Bound Clinic to rob the clinic, during which he accidentally slams a door into Jill’s stomach, causing her to lose the baby. After Gideon’s death, John retreats into a severe depression, causing him to withdraw from both Jill and his work.

Before Saw: Detective Hoffman & Matthews’ Backstory (Saw II, IV, & 3D)

While John Kramer is living a happy life as a civil engineer, in the world of law enforcement, Detective Eric Matthews is faking evidence in order to get convictions in some of his cases. This results in many arrests—including Amanda Young—as shown in Saw II. Also at this time, Detective Mark Hoffman and Officer Daniel Rigg investigate the case of a teacher who has been abusing his daughter in Saw IV. However, thanks to the man’s lawyer, Art Blank, the teacher goes free.

Shortly after, shown in flashbacks in Saw IV, Detective Hoffman’s sister is murdered by her boyfriend, Seth Baxter. Hoffman falls into a deep depression and Seth is sentenced to life in prison. During this time, Officer Matt Gibson is attacked by a former mental patient and Hoffman shoots the man even though he drops his weapon. Gibson reports Hoffman, but Hoffman is given no disciplinary action. Soon after, Gibson convicts three of Hoffman’s colleagues for corruption, which results in Hoffman swearing vengeance against Gibson, shown in Saw 3D.

Before Saw: John Becomes Jigsaw (Saw II & IV)

Soon after Gideon’s death, Jill and John separate and then get a divorce. Not too long afterwards, Dr. Lawrence Gordon diagnoses John with an inoperable brain tumor, shown in Saw II. Shortly after, shown in Saw IV, John hears about an experimental therapy which he believes might help cure his tumor, and asks William Easton to cover the cost.

When Easton refuses, a rift forms between the two. Shown through flashbacks in Saw II, John attempts suicide, but survives. Thanks to his new-found rebirth, he decides to spend the rest of his life designing tests that he believes will serve as “instant rehabilitation”, and change the world one person at a time.

In Saw IV, John performs his first “test” on Cecil, the addict who caused the death of his baby. After Cecil dies, John cuts a jigsaw piece shaped chunk from his skin, indicating that the man is missing a significant piece of what it means to be human. This leads the press to label him “the Jigsaw Killer” once Cecil’s body is discovered.

Before Saw: Hoffman & Amanda Become Apprentices, Detective Tapp Trails Dr. Gordon (Saw, III, V, & VI)

During Jigsaw’s early killings, Hoffman abducts his sister’s killer, Seth, and places him into a trap of his own design. This is shown through flashbacks in Saw V. He cuts the same jigsaw-shaped piece out of Seth’s skin, and sets the crime scene up to look like one of Jigsaw’s tests. John notices the imposter kill, figures out Hoffman’s secret, then kidnaps him, forcing Hoffman to help him set up future games.

Also shown in flashbacks in Saw V, Special Agent Peter Strahm and Special Agent Lindsey Perez investigate an arson attack, but the FBI gives up on the case and it goes cold. It’s during this time that John abducts Amanda Young, placing her in one of his tests, shown in Saw, but she survives, becoming his next apprentice, shown in Saw III. John also places Dr. Lawrence Gordon’s penlight at the scene of his next crime, shown in Saw, and though Gordon is arrested, he has an alibi – he was having an affair.

Hot on the trail of the Jigsaw killer, Detectives Tapp and Sing find John’s hideout, but thanks to an intricate web of traps, Sing is killed in the process, shown in Saw. Detective Tapp survives, but suffers a mental breakdown, becoming absolutely obsessed with Jigsaw’s crimes, and is released from the force. He remains convinced that Dr. Gordon is behind the murders and vows to keep a close eye on him. Shown through flashbacks in Saw VI, Jill becomes aware of John’s crimes and he visits her to show Amanda, now clean, as proof that what he’s doing is good.

Adam & Dr. Gordon’s Test (Saw, III, & 3D)

Setting off the events of the first Saw film, Detective Tapp hires Adam Stanheight, a photographer, to spy on Dr. Gordon, as he still believes that Gordon is guilty. John becomes aware of this relationship and decides to use it as part of his next game. Soon after, Dr. Gordon and Adam are both abducted and brought to an underground bathroom where John poses as a dead body in the center of the room, having injected himself with a cocktail of drugs that slow his heart and respiration so that they will be nearly imperceptible.

Meanwhile, Detective Tapp arrives to free Dr. Gordon’s family, but is shot and killed in the process. Dr. Gordon saws off his own foot in order to escape from the bathroom and save his wife and child. He promises to come back and find help for Adam. As revealed in Saw 3D, Dr. Gordon finds a steaming hot pipe which he uses to cauterize his wound, allowing him to survive.

John finally stands up from the center of the bathroom and leaves Adam alone to die. The audience then learns in Saw 3D that John catches up with Dr. Gordon and makes him his next apprentice, keeping it a secret from his other accomplices. In flashbacks from Saw III, Amanda returns to Adam, and suffocates him in an act of mercy.

Between Saw & Saw II – Bobby Dagen, the Black Box (Saw V & 3D)

Between the events of Saw and the beginning of Saw II, Bobby Dagen releases a tell-all book about surviving one of Jigsaw’s games, an event which did not happen. This is shown in Saw 3D before Bobby is tested in one of Jigsaw’s games. Also during this time, as audiences see in Saw V, John Kramer gives a black box to his executor which he says is to be given to Jill in the event of his death.

Detective Matthews’ Test (Saw II)

Saw II begins with the police tracking Jigsaw, now extremely weak and ill, to his lair. But once they capture him and bring him back to the police station, John reveals that another test is in place. He, along with the covert help of Detective Hoffman, has kidnapped a group of people that Detective Eric Matthews used planted evidence to convict, and locked them in a house along with Detective Matthews’ son, Daniel, and an undercover Amanda.

The house is slowly being filled with sarin gas, and John wants to trade Daniel’s life for Detective Matthews’ time. All Detective Matthews has to do is keep talking to John until the game is over, and his son will be returned to him alive. Unfortunately, thanks to Detective Matthews’ hot temper and lack of patience, he attacks John before the game is finished and forces John to bring him to the house. However, when they arrive, Detective Matthews enters the house alone to find that the video feed coming from the house has been pre-recorded; all the events he’s been watching took place much earlier, and his son is locked safely away in a warehouse, being kept alive with an oxygen tank.

Detective Matthews is then knocked unconscious, and chained up in the bathroom from Saw, which turns out to be part of the foundation of that same house. Meanwhile, Detective Kerry finds Daniel at a steel plant, locked in a safe, still alive. At the same time, Amanda reveals herself to Detective Matthews as Jigsaw’s accomplice, closing the bathroom door and leaving him there to die.

Between Saw II & III/IV – Nerve Gas House, Jill Tuck, & Art Blank (Saw III & IV)

In a flashback from Saw III, the audience learns that Detective Eric Matthews is able to escape the bathroom by breaking his foot and slipping it out of the ankle cuff. He confronts and beats Amanda, demanding to know where his son is, but Amanda fights him off and leaves him for dead once more. In another flashback from Saw IV, Hoffman drags Detective Matthews to a prison cell, keeping him alive for a future game.

Between the events of Saw II and Saw III/IV, which happen simultaneously, Hoffman disposes of the six bodies of the victims of the nerve gas house and fully renovates the building. He then sets up the glass coffin trap in a room there, connected to the underground tunnel network.

Now that police know Jigsaw’s true identity, Jill Tuck, being represented by Art Blank, is interrogated by Hoffman in flashbacks seen in Saw IV. The police also investigate her home, finding Billy the puppet and a red tricycle, which belonged to John when he was a child. Art Blank is soon abducted and tested by Jigsaw, but survives the test and becomes another of John’s accomplices.

Jeff & Lynn Denlon’s Test (Saw III)

In Saw III, as John’s health has been declining, Amanda has taken over Jigsaw’s work, designing her own traps. Amanda reveals that she is convinced that people don’t really change and Jigsaw’s tests have no real effect, so her traps are inescapable. One such test is a former patient at Jill’s clinic, Troy, who Amanda locked into an impossible test in a classroom where he would die from an explosion because the door had been welded shut. This leads Detective Kerry to believe that someone other than John Kramer is responsible for Troy’s death, but Detective Kerry is soon abducted herself and subjected to another of Amanda’s unbeatable tests, which kills her.

Amanda places a shell casing with Detective Rigg’s fingerprints on it at the crime scene. Detective Hoffman then sends a key and a cryptic note to Special Agent Peter Strahm and Special Agent Lindsey Perez which claims that two officers might be in danger. While his accomplices are out, Jill comes to the meatpacking plant to meet with John, begging him to stop his games. John instead gives her the key for the black box he left with his executor.

Soon after, Amanda kidnaps Dr. Lynn Denlon. Detective Hoffman meets with John at the same time, where John gives him the instructions for the test presented in Saw V. Hoffman leaves a note in John’s desk for Amanda, telling her he knows the truth of her involvement in Jill’s miscarriage and that she has to kill Lynn is she doesn’t want Hoffman to tell John the truth. Hoffman leaves through a secret door just as Amanda arrives with Lynn.

Once awake inside the meatpacking plant, Lynn is given the instructions for her test and is fitted with a shotgun collar that will kill her if John dies. She is told she must keep him alive until another victim finishes a series of tests. Unbeknownst to Amanda, Lynn’s test instructions are also a simultaneous test for her – a test of whether or not she can keep Lynn alive.

Unfortunately, she fails as Jeff Denlon, Lynn’s husband, emerges from the series of tests he has just completed. Amanda shoots Lynn, Jeff kills Amanda, and then, despite Lynn’s protests, Jeff kills John, failing his final test of revenge, causing the door to the room to seal shut and Lynn to die as her collar goes off. As John dies, he plays a tape which informs Jeff that his daughter Corbett has also been abducted, and in order to save her, Jeff has to play another game.

Detective Rigg’s Test (Saw IV)

Happening at the same time as the Denlons’ test in Saw III, Saw IV sees a SWAT team led by Rigg and Hoffman raid an underground area where they find Detective Kerry’s corpse. She has now been missing for four days. At the same time, Hoffman places Eric Matthews in a trap and ties himself up nearby, posing as a secondary victim. Shortly after, Art Blank subdues Detective Rigg in his apartment and sets everything up for his test.

Rigg wakes up to find himself still in his own apartment, facing a tape that informs him Eric Matthews is still alive and he has 90 minutes to save him. Finding a woman, Brenda, chained to a mechanical chair in his living room, Rigg is instructed to leave her as she is and she will be fine, but he tries to save her anyway. This ultimately ends in her attacking him, and he kills her in self-defense. Rigg then finds a key, leading him to the Alexander Motel, so he leaves to find the motel.

Shortly after, the fingerprints on the shell casing at Kerry’s body are identified as belonging to Rigg, and a SWAT team raids his apartment. Inside they find Brenda’s corpse along with planted photos of the other victims in Rigg’s test as well as Jill Tuck. Rigg enters the Alexander Motel where he forces the owner, Ivan, into a trap set by Art Blank. Ivan fails his test and dies. Another note from Jigsaw then leads Rigg to the school where he found Troy’s corpse. The investigators follow close behind, finding Ivan’s corpse, and discovering that the room had been rented by the lawyer, Art Blank.

Rigg arrives at the school to find a woman being tested – he frees her and finds a photo of his wife, which leads him to the Gideon Meatpacking Plant. Strahm and Perez arrive at the school soon after, and find a tape warning Perez that Strahm will soon kill an innocent man. She is then seriously injured by a shrapnel bomb, and gives the key from Kerry to Strahm. He finally makes the connection between Art Blank and John Kramer and heads to the meatpacking plant.

Once Rigg arrives at the plant, Blank reveals that he, Hoffman, and Matthews will all survive if he just doesn’t enter their room. Of course, Rigg enters the room anyway, and Matthews shoots him as he is killed by the trap. As Strahm arrives, he finds Jeff in the sick room who immediately aims his gun at him, demanding to know where his daughter is; not knowing what’s going on, Strahm shoots Jeff in self-defense.

Rigg shoots Blank, believing him to be John’s main accomplice, and receives a tape revealing that he has failed his test, killing Eric by entering the room before time runs out. Hoffman then reveals himself to be Jigsaw’s true protégé, and locks Rigg in the room, where he succumbs to his wounds. Then, Hoffman locks Strahm inside the same room as John, Jeff, Lynn, and Amanda, where he is left to die.

Hoffman Versus Strahm (Saw V)

Saw V opens with Agent Strahm discovering the secret door in the sickroom that Hoffman had used before. A tape there warns him not to go on, and he ignores it, only to find and be attacked by Hoffman. Strahm wakes up in the cube trap, which is meant to be inescapable, yet he manages to survive anyway by performing a tracheotomy on himself. Meanwhile, Detective Hoffman goes to retrieve Jeff and Lynn Denlon’s daughter Corbett from the building where she was being held. He brings her out where he is met by police and paramedics. Hoffman is labelled a hero for saving the girl. Soon, Agent Strahm is discovered and transferred to the hospital himself.

Special Agents Erickson and Perez work together to fake Perez’s death in order to keep her safe, while an autopsy performed on John’s body reveals the wax-coated tape he had swallowed before he died. Detective Hoffman is then called to the morgue where he listens to the tape. It announces that John’s death will not be the end of Jigsaw, and that Hoffman himself will be tested in the coming days. At the same time, Jill receives the black box from John’s executor.

Detective Hoffman then sets out to prepare the main game of the film for Brit, Mallick, Luba Gibbs, Charles, and Ashley. Soon after, he is promoted to Detective Lieutenant, and then finds an anonymous letter on his desk identical to the one he received from John after he killed Seth. Believing it to be from Agent Strahm, he takes Strahm’s phone from evidence.

Soon, Hoffman gets a call from the hospital informing him of Agent Perez’s death. He goes to visit Strahm, who tells him that he believes Hoffman is Jigsaw’s accomplice. Hoffman shrugs it off and soon the five victims awake to receive the instructions for their test. Strahm leaves the hospital and goes to the FBI archives where he takes several Jigsaw files. After finding out about the death of Hoffman’s sister, he decides to visit the crime scene from Seth Baxter’s murder.

Meanwhile, Agent Erickson calls Hoffman and Hoffman tells him about Strahm’s theory that Jigsaw had a second accomplice. He, of course, leaves out Strahm’s opinion that Hoffman is that second man. After their conversation, Erickson discovers that several of the Jigsaw files have disappeared. Agent Strahm returns to the room where he found the corpses of Jigsaw, Amanda, and Lynn and Jeff Denlon. Soon after, Hoffman calls Erickson using Strahm’s cell phone, but hangs up in order to make Erickson suspicious. Erickson has the call traced, while Hoffman leaves the phone in the surveillance room of the ongoing game building along with a file containing photos of Agent Erickson.

Erickson’s call is traced back to 1293 Sanburst Drive, as Agent Strahm is following Hoffman, arriving at the former nerve gas house from Saw II. He discovers the underground tunnel network where he finds the glass coffin and a tape instructing him to climb inside in order to leave the room alive.

Meanwhile, Erickson arrives at 1293 Sandburst Drive, finding Strahm’s phone and his file. Further investigating the area he finds Brit and Mallick who have just barely survived their test. He calls them an ambulance and puts out an APB on Agent Strahm. At the same time, Agent Strahm refuses to enter the coffin and instead waits for Hoffman to enter the room first. He and Hoffman fight, and he locks Hoffman inside the coffin. But, this triggers the trap, closing the door to the room and killing Strahm, while Hoffman survives inside the coffin.

Hoffman Tries to Cover Up (Saw VI)

Saw VI starts with Hoffman safely leaving the glass coffin and returning to the room where Agent Strahm died. Finding a severed hand to be mostly intact, he takes the hand with him, leaving the crushed body where it lies. Hoffman starts working on his next test, abducting two moneylenders, Simone and Eddie, and placing them in a trap. Simone survives, and Hoffman places Strahm’s fingerprints on the trap as well as Eddie’s corpse, thanks to Strahm’s severed hand, as Simone escapes to the hospital.

Once police find the crime scene, Hoffman is called in by his colleagues. Agents Erickson and Perez meet him there, telling him about Strahm’s fingerprints and why they faked Perez’s death, promising to keep him in the loop from now on. Hoffman goes to visit Jill and demands the envelopes from the box, deciding he has to get started on William Easton’s game sooner than anticipated. Jill gives him five of the envelopes, but secretly holds the final two back.

Meanwhile, during Eddie’s autopsy, the coroner discovers that the knife used to cut the puzzle piece does not match any of Jigsaw’s other victims, except for Seth Baxter. Agents Perez and Erickson begin analyzing the tape found at Seth Baxter’s crime scene to try and figure out if it was recorded by someone other than John Kramer.

William Easton’s Test & Hoffman’s Test (Saw VI)

After his meeting with Jill, Hoffman sets off to abduct the group for insurance manager William Easton’s test, taking them to the Rowan Zoological Institute. He then causes a blackout in William Easton’s office where he abducts Easton himself and takes him to the zoo.

As William Easton’s game goes on, Agents Erickson and Perez discover that Strahm’s fingerprints must have been planted after he was already dead. The two opt to keep this information from Hoffman, though Erickson calls him to let him know they’ve been analyzing Seth Baxter’s instruction tape.

Meanwhile, Jill visits St. Eustace Hospital and leaves an envelope for Dr. Gordon in his office. After Jill leaves, Dr. Gordon opens the envelope to find a video tape from John Kramer. Jill then goes to the zoo, taking the modern version of the reverse bear trap she found in the box and the final envelope with her.

At the same time, Hoffman arrives at the FBI office and joins Erickson and Perez as they travel to the technical laboratory. As the three arrive at the lab, the technician identifies the voice on the tape as belonging to Hoffman. Hoffman turns on the agents, attacking them, then setting the lab on fire to destroy the evidence.

Hoffman then travels to the zoo, and arrives in the surveillance room where Jill electrocutes him, leaving him tied to a chair, fitted with the reverse bear trap. Jill reveals that John ordered her to test him as well. Then, as William Easton reaches his final test and one of his victims activates a trap that will kill him, the switch activates Hoffman’s trap as well. Jill leaves Hoffman to die. Hoffman, however, manages to jam the trap and escape.

Jill vs Hoffman (Saw 3D)

Saw 3D begins with Jill and Hoffman battling for control of Jigsaw’s legacy. Hoffman escapes to a hangar where he treats his wounds while Jill goes to the police, asking for an officer named Matt Gibson. She reveals Hoffman as Jigsaw’s successor, and offers all the evidence they need to convict him in exchange for immunity and protection.

Meanwhile, Hoffman abducts another group and forces them to play a game in a public square with hundreds of people watching. Then Hoffman sets up a game for Bobby Dagen, the man who falsely claimed to have survived a Jigsaw game during the time between Saw and Saw II. Hoffman then abducts more victims and sets up another game, this time setting a bomb at the location after it’s over and leaving his reverse bear trap along with a note for Matt Gibson.

Then, Hoffman sets off to abduct Bobby and his wife Joyce along with several other people, bringing them to the abandoned Clear Dawn mental facility. After finding Jill’s fingerprints on the bear trap that was used on Hoffman, Gibson takes her to a safe house. Hoffman is still able to locate her, and sends a CD to Gibson offering to end Bobby’s game in exchange for Jill. Gibson denies his demand and orders that Jill be transferred into a cell at the police station.

Hoffman sends a video message to him, telling him to “look beyond the crossroad to the clear dawn”. This clues Gibson into the location of Bobby’s game at the Clear Dawn facility, ordering a colleague to watch over Jill while he goes to the test. Gibson enters the facility with a SWAT team, but then learns that Hoffman’s call actually traced to the junkyard, so he leaves to chase after Hoffman. Hoffman has been hiding in one of the body bags of the victims brought into the police station, and exits while Gibson is away and Jill is inside. He kills his way to her, then beats her brutally and kills her with the original reverse bear trap. He then leaves the station and returns to his hangar.

After discovering the massacre at the police station, police shut down the city in an attempt to catch Hoffman. Hoffman blows up the hangar where he’s been staying, starting to flee, but is confronted by Dr. Gordon. Dr. Gordon forces Hoffman into the bathroom from the original Saw and takes the saw away, locking Hoffman inside to die without any way to escape, fulfilling John’s final request.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/saw-movies-complete-timeline-explained/