Saw X producers talk bringing the franchise back to John Kramer

gamesradar.com:

Saw X has just hit theaters – and critics are raving about it. The tenth installment picks up just weeks after James Wan's Saw, following a sick and desperate John Kramer (Tobin Bell) as he travels to Mexico for a risky and experimental medical procedure in hopes of a miracle cure for his cancer. When John learns that the facility is run by scam artists whose goal is to extort money from the weak and vulnerable, he decides to go full Jigsaw mode and make the scammers pay.

Directed by Kevin Greutert (Saw 6, Saw 3D), the film sees the return of Amanda (Shawnee Smith), Saw trap survivor turned John's protege, as well as a few surprise cameos from some characters you might have forgotten about.

We spoke to producers Mark Burg and Oren Koules about Saw traps, origin stories, and bringing the franchise back to the man who started it all.

GamesRadar+: Saw X is seven years in the making. Can you explain why you feel now is the best time to tell this part of John's story? 

Mark Burg: Well, we started working on the script in, like, end of 2017 and we were planning on going forward with this, and then Chris Rock approached Lionsgate saying, "I love Saw, I'd like to do a Saw movie." So we started developing a story with him that ultimately became Spiral, and this kind of got put on the back burner.

We did a giant brand study with Lionsgate. They wanted a movie where Tobin Bell is alive, where Shawnee Smith is in the movie. They love the original characters and they didn't want Tobin just in flashbacks. So we decided that we'd make a movie pre-Tobin dying – he died in Saw III.

So we came up with a story that takes place immediately following Saw I. In our Saw world, it's probably three, four weeks after Saw I ends. Kevin Greutert