Unique among horror villains, in which most antagonists of the genre are usually classified as sadistic or evil, Leatherface is characterized as committing his brutal acts as a means of following his family's orders, while also killing out of fear.

Leatherface has since been parodied and referenced in novels, feature films, games, and television series; in addition to being an inspiration for many artistic outlets, fictional characters, heavy metal bands, and wrestling gimmicks.

Picking up several decades after the original film, the story focuses on an aging Leatherface (Mark Burnham), living in relative peace with an elderly woman named Virginia "Ginny" McCumber (Alice Krige).

Fashioning a new mask out of Ginny's face before retrieving his old chainsaw, he begins slaughtering members of the group, gaining the attention of Texas Ranger Sally Hardesty (Olwen Fouéré), the sole survivor of his original killing spree.

[33] In Wildstorm's one-shot The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Cut!, Leatherface comes across a group of independent filmmakers, thirty years after the events of the 2003 remake, who are making a documentary about the Hewitt family.

[44][45] During this period, Hooper had grown increasingly disillusioned by what he referred to as the "lack of sentimentality and the brutality of things" witnessing the graphic and dispassionate violence depicted in the news at the time.

[82] This issue later proved problematic while filming the scene where Leatherface kills Kirk (William Vail), as Hansen unintentionally gave the actor a black eye after hitting him in the face with a fake sledgehammer.

[89]: 19:30-22:15  Despite the hardships during production, the rest of the cast spoke highly of Johnson, commending his dedication towards the role and his ability to imbue the character with emotional depth beyond just portraying him as just a man in a mask.

[48]: 13:13–14:04  Fellow cast member Tyler Cone recalled that Jacks had some difficulty with the physicality of the role, particularly in scenes involving Lisa Marie Newmyer and Renée Zellweger.

[70][106] Bryniarski later reprised his role as Leatherface three years later in the film's prequel, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006), as filmmakers were very impressed with the actor's contribution to the character in the previous entry in the franchise.

To make Jedidiah's transformation into Leatherface more believable, he intentionally tried to gain physical body weight before filming commenced; eating and working out to have the look and feel of the character in his early years, which he felt "could take your head off with a slap".

[89]: 24:23–25:05  Johnson was also given blister make-up around his mouth to imply that Leatherface was diseased underneath the mask,[89]: 24:23–25:05 [85]: 60:00–61:00  in addition to wearing specially-made dentures to mirror the scene of the character in the first film.

[48]: 21:53-28:38  Using this notion that Leatherface had a side of himself that he created to make himself look "beautiful", Logan felt free to explore the more feminine aspects of the character that were barely addressed in the previous films.

[48]: 21:53-28:38 [99] For the 2003 version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, effects artist Scott Stoddard[138] envisioned Leatherface as an amateur taxidermist, with the mask itself a combination of many different pieces taken off the faces of his victims.

[107]: 31:35-34:09 For the 2013 reboot, KNB EFX Group led by co-founder Howard Berger[140] with the assistance of makeup artist Mike McCarty, was hired to bring the character back to his roots.

Eventually basing their design upon the 'Old Lady' character Ginny, different masks were created using casts made from silicone and sculpted to give the appearance that the face had been "ripped off".

[152] In the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Leatherface was portrayed as a large, chainsaw-wielding murderer,[153] characterized as having interchanging personalities depending on which mask he wore, in addition to occasional cross-dressing and themes of sexual ambiguity.

[162][163] Critic and author Jason Zinoman compared Leatherface's depiction to that of Boris Karloff's performance as Frankenstein's monster, commenting how each character was both able to elicit sympathy while continuing to be a source of dread for the audience.

[177] In the film's audio commentary, director Burr offered his thoughts on the character's mental state, theorizing that Leatherface was reduced to a mindless, voiceless individual through a catastrophic injury.

This behavior is displayed when his chainsaw is damaged during an encounter with a potential victim, causing him to suffer an emotional breakdown, which culminates with Leatherface beating his head against a tree as a form of self-punishment.

The short story "Self-Esteem" by James Kisner, published within the series, revealed additional details on the character's mental state, depicting him as prone to hearing voices inside his head.

Instead of being a source of dread as with the previous entries, Leatherface was redefined as a transvestite that dressed in the flesh of female victims,[186] something film scholar Scott Von Doviak described as a "tortured drag queen".

"[5][195] Bryniarski also described how the Hewitt family's "us or them" mentality had influenced the character's violent and psychopathic nature, further noting the abuse he suffered from the outside world for most his life finally caused his already fragile mind to snap.

[126] Alvarez commented on the character's unique personality among horror villains, referring to Leatherface as having a more human aspect to him as opposed to Jason or Michael who was classified as "cold and determined" killers.

[205] This iteration of Leatherface also found a mother figure of sorts in the character Ginny or Mrs. Mc,[126] whose kind influence helped his more violent and murderous tendencies to become dormant for several decades.

[208] Following his inclusion in the sixth chapter of the asymmetric survival horror video game Dead by Daylight, promotional listings referred to him as a frightened child trapped in a man's body, seeking appreciation and acceptance.

[223] Since his debut in 1974, Leatherface has gained a reputation as an iconic and influential character in the horror genre,[224][225][226] responsible for establishing the use of conventional tools as murder weapons, as well as the image of a large, silent, killer devoid of personality.

1 for media outlet Thrillist's list of "The 33 Scariest Horror Villains of All Time", with the author describing the character as "the purest cinematic distillation of sudden, random, unspeakable terror".

[240] Film critic Tim Dirks of the film-review website Filmsite.org added Leatherface into his list featuring "The Greatest Movie Entrances of All-Time" based on the scene where the character appears and murders Kirk with a hammer.

In episode nineteen, "That Hurts Me", Leatherface was with several other horror film icons Jason, Ghostface, Freddy, Pinhead, and Michael Myers as they participated in the reality television show Big Brother.