Writer of ‘Saw’ Sequels Attended University of Iowa with Slain Healthcare CEO

On March 17th, 2025, everyone and seemingly everything was feeling lucky, in lieu of St. Patrick's Day. Everything except the current status of Saw XI, the upcoming 11th film in the long-running horror franchise.

The Hollywood Reporter reported that the sequel has made "zero progress" since longtime writing partners Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan turned in a draft last spring. Following the success of Saw X in October 2023, a sequel was greenlit and production was commissioned. Melton and Dunstan weren't involved the series revival, but both, particularly Melton, have history with the franchise dating back to Saw IV in 2007. Melton has writing credits on the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh movie in the series.

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We haven’t heard anything since May. It’s stalled at a managerial level. It has nothing to do with the creative or anything else. There’s higher-level things at play - Patrick Melton, per The Hollywood Reporter

Melton added that while he's unsure whether or not the 11th film in the series will be made, him and Dunstan came up with "a very timely story." It's a story that "taps into the same themes of Saw VI, where you're a citizen, you feel angry and frustrated with something, you feel like you can't do anything, and John Kramer's going to do it."

Saw fans should at least be delighted to hear that. In my opinion, Saw VI is the second best film in the series. It deals with the corruption of the healthcare industry, as well as the slimeball, insidious nature of insurance agents. The whole movie plays like a delicious piece of schadenfreude. It's easily the most topical of the Saw films that is rife with social commentary.

A smaller nugget of this story is Patrick Melton's Iowa connection. The Champaign, IL native attended the University of Iowa (along with Dunstan) in the mid-1990s. But that's not everything. Would you believe that Melton was actually classmates with Brian Thompson, the United Healthcare CEO who was killed in Midtown Manhattan in December 2024?

Melton revealed that him and Thompson graduated Iowa the same year (1997). While he clarifies the two knew each other, he says they weren't close friends:

We were at Iowa at the same time, so we graduated the same year in 1997. I can tell you Brian was pretty normal at school. He drank Bud Light and was a good guy - Patrick Melton, per The Hollywood Reporter

When reading this story late last night, I went from angry at the fact that Saw XI likely wouldn't meet its September 2025 release date to shocked at Melton's connection with Thompson.

The plot details for Saw XI have yet to be revealed, but the irony is absolutely delicious. When Thompson was killed, Saw VI received renewed attention due to the fact that the story revolves around health insurance executives being targeted by the sadistic John Kramer, aka Jigsaw, played by Tobin Bell.

Read more about Patrick Melton's connection to slain United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson and Saw XI's stalled production on The Hollywood Reporter's website.