Saw X: How did Cecilia know about Jigsaw and John Kramer?

Saw X initially confused fans with its timeline placement in the franchise, but as John Kramer enacts revenge on Cecilia and the people who wronged him, how did she know about Jigsaw?

For the 10th installment of the Saw franchise, Tobin Bell seemingly returns from the dead to play John once again. Still battling his advanced stage of brain cancer, John is told he has no time left and no treatment would work.

In a stroke of luck, he learns about an experimental treatment not sanctioned by the government, run by Dr. Cecilia Pederson (Synnøve Macody Lund). His last hope, John ventures to Mexico and spends thousands. Only to learn it was a scam to swindle dying people out of their money.

While John becomes Jigsaw to give Cecilia and her team redemption, Cecilia throws in a curveball and reveals she knows about Jigsaw. Here’s an explainer of how due to the timeline.

Cecilia realizes who John Kramer really is in Saw X

As Cecilia watches the gruesome death of her cohorts, she reveals to John that she figured out he’s the infamous killer Jigsaw in Saw X.

As the true fraudster of the scam, Cecilia’s game is left for last. She’s proven herself to be a formidable and conniving villain, having used Valentina’s intestines as a rope to get her phone. After Gabriela survives her game, Cecilia’s boyfriend comes to her rescue. In return, she has John lock himself into her old contraption along with the young boy. While Amanda gets her ankle chained. Cecilia also kills Gabriela.

In a unique twist, Cecilia revealed in Saw X that she figured out John was Jigsaw. She explains that she realized who he was and asked when she bested the great serial killer. She even makes a joke about John’s ridicule of her moral code compared to his as a serial killer. But how did Cecilia know?

The answer is quite simple. Saw X’s timeline takes place between the first and second movie. According to the producers, it takes place exactly three weeks after he leaves Adam for dead in Saw. Fans may remember that in Saw, Detective Tapp had a wall full of newspaper clippings of Jigsaw’s killings. It’s clear that John has been doing his road to redemption much longer before the first movie.

Unlike other killers, Jigsaw’s methods of traps and games, and even some survivors make him stand out. It wouldn’t be surprising that a woman like Cecilia, a psychopath herself, wouldn’t have known about Jigsaw. Facing the games and traps herself, Cecilia was able to deduce who John was.

Saw X is in cinemas now, while for more about the movie, check out the below links:

• Saw X: Everything you need to know
• How many Saw movies are there?
• Saw does spoof of Nicole Kidman’s AMC ad
• Saw fans slam takedown of AMC parody
• Saw X post-credits scene explained
• Saw producers reveal most “horrific” trap
• Saw 11 could happen thanks to “cliffhanger” ending
• Is Saw X based on a true story?
• Why Saw X is the longest movie in the franchise
• Saw X producers clear up timeline confusion