Shawnee Smith is one of the names circling Saw X, the tenth installment of the Saw franchise, which is set to hit theaters in October 2023, just in time for Halloween. She will presumably reprise her role as Amanda Young.
James Wan and Leigh Whannell's Saw franchise—which now has more entries than A Nightmare on Elm Street and is only three short of Halloween's thirteen entries—has been a steady little earner for Lionsgate ever since the first film saw Cary Elwes hacking his foot off in a filthy bathroom in 2004. Thus, fans always perk up when a new would-be player enters Jigsaw's deadly game.
Deadline reports Smith is "circling" Saw X as the film continues to assemble its cast. Smith played Amanda Young in the first three Saw films, surviving a reverse bear trap in the first and being thrown into a bathtub full of used syringes in the second entry before it was revealed that she had been helping Jigsaw ever since her first round with the killer. Smith is one of many set to join the new Saw movie with Tobin Bell, the Jigsaw killer, who is coming back to the franchise he started. They will be joined by newcomers Synnøve Macody Lund, Steven Brand, and Michael Beach.
What’s being kept under wraps is if Smith would be reprising her role as Young, which would be the fan expectation. Even that leaves fans with questions since Smith and Bell's characters are dead. They could return in the form of flashbacks to their past, as the Saw franchise is well known for doubling back in time. If Smith is playing her killer character once more, there are a lot of possibilities for how she could return.
The basic premise of the Saw series revolves around a self-made serial killer named Jigsaw, a.k.a. John Kramer (Belle), who, after a mishandled terminal cancer diagnosis, decided to get revenge on those around him who contributed to his soon-to-be demise. Through a series of deadly and elaborate traps, Jigsaw makes them realize how precious life is and fight their way out—or die trying. Amanda Young was a former victim-turned-assistant who aided the ailing killer in setting up his games until she was killed for being a full-on psychopath and making the games unwinnable. How this character would fit into Saw X is being played close to the vest.
Saw X is set to release on October 27, 2023.
Source: Deadline