The Invisible Man proves once again that Leigh Whannell has become a horror powerhouse since his early days with the Saw films. Many people had wondered why the talented writer/director left the successful franchise behind though and now, at long last, he’s revealed the reasons for his departure.
Whannell was credited with writing the screenplay for the first three Saw movies and also starred in the original. The series was a massive success and is still going strong to this day, with a spinoff called Spiral: From the Book of Saw on the way starring Chris Rock, which promises to be just as gory as you’d expect. But everything after the third film has been done so without the franchise’s co-creator.
So, the question on everyone’s mind has been why did Whannell exit the popular horror series? While promoting his reboot of The Invisible Man starring Elisabeth Moss, the horror guru didn’t play any games and straight-up told fans why he left after Saw III, saying:
“One of the reasons I had to step away from the Saw films I felt was that I couldn’t think up any more ways to creatively kill somebody, or dismember them. I was like, ‘I’m burned out on this.’ And they kept going and making those movies, but I just had to step away.”
Of course, it’s understandable for one to run out of creative ideas to dismember an individual on-screen. Honestly, the fact that he was able to pull it off so brilliantly in the first three films is both incredible and somewhat disturbing, and I don’t think anyone can hold it against him for wanting to move onto new projects rather than try to outdo himself in the department of gruesome murders.
Besides, with The Invisible Man off to a strong start both critically and commercially, and 2018’s Upgrade being one of the genre’s best movies of that year, Whannell has shown that he’s been able to move past his Saw days and find much success even without riding off the back of an established franchise. And we can’t wait to see what he does next.