Twisted wouldn't mind getting some of the old crew back, but Lionsgate wants new people, and fresh takes on the franchise to eventually finally get away from the reliance on what made the original series. Twisted is more interested in story / narrative ideas especially revolving around having what they perceive as clever twists. Lionsgate is more interested in fresh concepts that will modernize the series. That's the agreement they must reach, they need to find a solution that'll please everybody. Twisted wants to keep working with Lionsgate, their relationship isn't tense or anything. Both parties realize Jigsaw came off as too safe, and both parties agree that the Logan character was a big mistake. They will put a ton of emphasis on having a strong foundation to make the franchise relevant again, so likely another main character, but they want Tobin back for as long as they can, but they do want a passing of the baton there.
Here's the situation:
- Lionsgate wants a new take on the series, and a new director as a key part of that. Twisted is fine with it as long as they can get one they perceive as good and at least somewhat established.
- The Spierigs felt Twisted and Lionsgate didn't give them enough creative freedom on JIgsaw, and won't come back. It's a narrative that is growing around the franchise, but its popularity still makes it attractive. Many horror directors would be happy to come in and make a good Saw.
- They won't get a good director until they have a good script.
- Making a good script takes a strong idea everyone agrees on, and time to develop it correctly. There is more scrutiny around the quality of the script than ever. For Jigsaw, they started with the concept of a recreated Jigsaw trap, and didn't spend enough time developing the script around the idea.
- They seemingly just agreed on what they feel is a strong idea. It will take a while to develop it.
- I don't know that it's safe to expect a movie next year anymore.
- Tobin isn't getting any younger.
- Costas Mandylor and Cary Elwes both genuinely want to come back and are pushing for it, but neither Twisted or Lionsgate think it's a good idea.
- At this rate, I expect the next one to essentially be a reboot, with no regard for previous continuity, and with Tobin at the center of it. From everything I know, that's what I expect. And I don't think we'll see it until 2020, at this point. 2019 is still possible, but the script is being developed, and given the timeframe in which they agreed on a core idea for it, I expect it to take longer. In any case, the producers usually get together just after Christmas when a Saw movie is in the works. I expect they will this year, and we should hear more after that. If they're still aiming for 2019, we'll hear about it in January or February. If they're aiming for 2020, we won't hear anything about it at all until SDCC 2019 at the earliest, and I'm only talking about acknowledgement that it's in the works here. We'll have to wait til SDCC 2020 to even see a trailer for it, and that's if there are no further delays.
In other words, it might be a while.