Breaking Down the ‘Saw X’ Post-Credits Scene

Saw X, the tenth installment of the Saw franchise, hits theatres this weekend in all its eye-sucking, limb-severing glory, giving fans yet another piece of the ever-expanding puzzle that is the Saw chronology. Set in between Saw and Saw II, the film follows John Kramer/Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) as he takes a trip to Mexico for what’s billed as his “most personal game” yet—recruiting protege/Reverse Bear Trap survivor Amanda Young (Shawnee Smith) to help dole out some much-needed justice to another set of unsuspecting victims.

Does Saw X have a post-credits scene?

Fortunately for Saw fans, the story isn’t over once the credits roll on Saw X. As revealed by Billy the Puppet on Twitter, the film has a mid-credit scene that ties up a key loose end and features the return of a fan-favorite character who’s hinted at but never actually shown in Saw X.

What happens in the Saw X post-credits scene?

Saw X sees John Kramer heading to Mexico for what he’s told is a top-notch revolutionary medical treatment that will cure his late-stage cancer. He discovers that the “doctors” performing the procedure are grifters, faking surgery and sending patients back to the States several hundred thousand dollars poorer than when they arrived. John is encouraged to seek out this experimental miracle treatment after bumping into Henry (Michael Beach), a kindly man from his cancer patient support group who proudly shows off a gruesome stomach scar and tells Kramer that he’s been in remission for months.

At the time, Henry’s joyful revelation seemed like a much-needed lifeline for the increasingly desperate John Kramer. But as the film eventually reveals, Henry was simply another crooked player in the cruel scheme to rob cancer patients of their money while giving them false hope of survival. The victims in the main traps of the film— Valentina, Mateo, Gabriela, and Cecelia—were the crew of “doctors” and “nurses” who performed Kramer’s faux surgery. But while he’s able to take revenge on the crew of charlatans, there’s still someone else who needs punishment.

So it’s Henry who is the subject of Saw X‘s mid-credits scene, which returns to a locale that will be all-too-familiar for diehard fans: the original bathroom that Adam (Leigh Whannell) and Dr. Gordon (Cary Elwes) were trapped in during the first Saw film. As the lights flicker on, we see Henry (distinctly lacking in any kind of surgery scars) shirtless and chained up, with a horrifying blade-laden device strapped to his stomach.

John Kramer enters and thanks an unseen detective for his help in locating Henry—and that Detective is revealed to be (surprise!) Mark Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), the Jigsaw apprentice and focal point of the late-game Saw franchise films. There were a few hints throughout Saw X that Hoffman was around (Kramer references a detective, and Hoffman’s voice can be heard briefly over the phone), but it’s the mid-credits scene where we get a proper glimpse of him as he helps John teach Henry a lesson. The scene ends with Kramer and Hoffman activating a contraption that will no doubt give Henry some very real stomach scars in a full-circle (and appropriately gruesome) stinger for Kramer’s nightmarish trip to Mexico.

(featured image: Lionsgate)