She was the only known survivor of the Jigsaw Killer (portrayed by Tobin Bell), a man who abducts people he deems unappreciative of their lives and forces them into death traps.

Billy the Puppet enters the room with Amanda shortly after she removes the trap, congratulating her on her survival and explaining that she now knows how to appreciate life.

She appears in most of the film as one of the contestants of a trap set by Jigsaw (John Kramer) involving a house that will flood with nerve gas after a time limit.

She survives the nerve gas house, saved by Daniel from a violent victim Xavier, and upon the arrival of Eric Matthews she abducts him as her first "test subject" and rescues John from his custody.

Amanda expresses vengeful tendencies toward Eric, telling him that the "tables have turned" and that she will make him experience what it is like to be imprisoned, as she traps him in a bathroom to rot.

By the third film, Amanda is shown to be ignoring John's modus operandi by creating inescapable traps that kill the subject regardless of whether or not they successfully complete their test.

Darren Lynn Bousman fought to keep this scene in, but the producers removed it because they thought it would be better to leave the door open for Eric's return in Saw IV.

Leigh Whannell confirms on the Saw III DVD commentary that Amanda's murder of Eric was the first time she killed out of spite and that it was this incident that caused her to stray from John's intentions.

During Saw IV, Amanda's ability to carry the much heavier Detective Allison Kerry's unconscious body is questioned by the FBI, leading them to believe that another accomplice is helping John.

[2] In the fifth film, Hoffman, in a flashback, questions why Amanda would be needed to participate in the nerve gas house trap (from the second movie).

In Saw VI, a flashback shows that Amanda, desperate for drugs, sent Cecil to Jill Tuck's clinic to steal some for her, making her an accomplice in the miscarriage of John's son Gideon in Saw IV.

Also in the Director's Cut, a scene was added after the credits in which she approaches the room where Corbett Denlon is trapped (during the events of Saw III) and frantically tells her, "Don't trust the one who saves you".

Throughout the film, Amanda is an active apprentice to Jigsaw and a source of emotional support, helping him carry out his plans under his supervision against those who have defrauded him with a fake medical treatment for his cancer.

[4][5] Amanda became a downloadable playable killer “The Pig” for Dead by Daylight in 2018, utilizing a hidden blade and the reverse bear trap as weapons.

Marcus Dunstan, writer of Saw IV, Saw V, Saw VI, and Saw 3D stated that "Shawnee Smith's character [Amanda] represents a tremendous viable, emotional thread throughout the narratives."

Fellow writer of Saw IV, Saw V, Saw VI, and Saw 3D Patrick Melton further stated that "I don't think we could have effectively told the story of Hoffman and John Kramer without including Amanda."

Kevin Greutert, the editor of Saw, Saw II, Saw III, and Saw IV, and director of Saw VI and Saw 3D, further stated that "[Smith] did a great job, and [Amanda's] such a peculiar aspect of the Jigsaw character, with the fact that he had these tender feelings for this weirdo.

Smith stated: "When you first meet [Amanda], she's at the bottom, she can't go any lower and it's the combination of that and having nothing left to lose and finding someone to love and to sacrifice for.

[11] Through interviews with Shawnee Smith, it was revealed that Amanda's evolution into the killer she was at the end of Saw III was in part due to a horrible childhood.

[12][14] Amanda displayed indications of guilt and remorse in her actions, as she had a nightmare of one of her victims in a deleted scene in the director's cut of Saw III.

Huntley noted that although Amanda sets herself as notably different from the Jigsaw Killer, her attachment toward him and her desire to be like him are central to her character's state of mind.

Even at such a critical moment, jostling a gun between the terrified Lynn and the terminal Jigsaw, Amanda's desire to identify with her mentor remains.

[16]Huntley further points out that the biggest dilemma that Amanda's character faced is that she lost her sense of "self" following her "reverse bear trap" in the first film.

[16]Kyle Turner writing for Slant commenting on Amanda's role in Saw X, stated "She’s all id, a tempest of emotion and fully embodied desperation and psychosis.

"[16] Amanda eventually developed her own unique modus operandi, in which the traps she set were inescapable, and would kill the test subjects even when the victims had achieved the goals of their games.

[19] Don Summer, a writer for Best-Horror-films.com, commented that Shawnee Smith did a "fantastic job" in her recurring role as Jigsaw's "trusty sidekick", Amanda.

[21][11] This culminated in the selection of Smith as a judge and host for the reality series Scream Queens, in which contestants competed for a role in Saw VI.

[22] Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith were nominated for the Spike Scream Award in the category of "Most Vile Villain" for their portrayals of John and Amanda respectively in Saw III.

[25] Reviewing Saw X, Alison Foreman of IndieWire writes that Smith's "pitch-perfect performance — self-aware, soapy, and rivaling Chris Rock for funniest in the series — is still stunningly effective.

"[26] Siddhant Adlakha observes that Smith returns for "a surprisingly sizable role that, like Bell, allows the actress to tie a neat bow on a character who may have been killed off far too quickly.