The Next Saw/Spiral Must Bring Back Dr. Gordon (& Make Him The Villain)

Whatever direction the next Saw sequel takes, it needs to bring back Dr. Gordon and make him the new villain of the franchise. Saw was a low-budget thriller that was originally designed to go straight to video, but it instead became a surprise horror smash upon release in 2004. The story sees two men locked together in a dingy bathroom with a dead body between them. Adam (played by screenwriter Leigh Whannell) and Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) are then forced to play a life or death game by serial killer Jigsaw.

While the first Saw is considered the originator of the torture subgenre, there’s remarkably little in the way of gore in the first entry. Instead, it’s an intense thriller that ends with a shocking twist. The movie then kicked off an annual tradition of Saw sequels, which did an excellent job of continuity and fleshing out Jigsaw/John Kramer (Tobin Bell) – in addition to seriously dialing up the bloodshed and elaborate traps. The issue is that Kramer was revealed to have terminal cancer in the first movie, and is later killed in Saw 3.

Later movies saw apprentices pick up his legacy, with the most recent entries Jigsaw and Spiral attempting to introduce new killers to pick up his mantle. The problem is neither of these pretenders to Jigsaw’s throne are particularly compelling and lack the iconic stature of Bell’s John Kramer. There’s a solution that’s been staring the series in the face for years now, which is to bring back Cary Elwes’ Dr. Gordon and make him the new villain of Saw.

Following his disappearance at the end of the first Saw, later sequels kept Gordon’s fate ambiguous. Fan theories soon spread that he was behind the scenes helping Kramer, which was eventually confirmed in the seventh movie Saw 3D. The issue there was that Gordon barely features in the sequel, with Elwes’ performance also feeling somewhat phoned in. The character’s inclusion felt more like a fan-pleasing afterthought than an integral part of the story.

Cary Elwes was also involved in a lawsuit against the producers behind Saw over his salary for the original film, which is likely what kept him out of the immediate follow-ups. Fans were mostly disappointed by his lackluster return in Saw 3D, but the pieces are all there for Gordon to become the new face of the series. Elwes is a great actor, Gordon’s character has close ties to John Kramer and it would fascinating to see what the good doctor has been up to since taking care of Jigsaw’s other would-be successor Hoffman.

The Chris Rock fronted Spiral was an intriguing attempt to kickstart the Saw series with something new, but judging by the response thus far, audiences and critics didn’t really take to the soft reboot. It appears plans are afoot to keep the franchise alive, including talk of a Saw TV series, but one thing that would reassure followers of the series is to bring Gordon back. The character was primed to be the successor to Kramer and – assuming Cary Elwes is up for coming back – the series should make good on that promise.

About The Author

Padraig Cotter
(3484 Articles Published)

It’s pronounced Paw-rick, not Pad-raig. Now that’s out of the way, a brief introduction. Padraig has been writing about film online since 2012, when a friend asked if he’d like to contribute the occasional review or feature to their site.

A part-time hobby soon blossomed into a career when he discovered he really loved writing about movies, TV and video games – he even (arguably) had a little bit of talent for it. He has written words for Den of Geek, Collider, The Irish Times and Screen Rant over the years, and can discuss anything from the MCU – where Hawkeye is clearly the best character – to the most obscure cult b-movie gem, and his hot takes often require heat resistant gloves to handle.

He’s super modern too, so his favorite movies include Jaws, Die Hard, The Thing, Ghostbusters and Batman. He can be found as i_Padds on Twitter making bad puns.

See also  Every Weapon Trait (& What They Do) in Warhammer: Vermintide 2

More From Padraig Cotter