Release order is not story order. Follow the franchise’s competing continuities without forcing them into one family history.
The original and its early sequels
Begin with The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986) returns to the family with a different tone and an explicit revenge connection. Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990) and The Next Generation introduce further family configurations. Their relationship is loose enough that an apparent contradiction should not be repaired by inventing an unseen event.
The Hewitt branch
The 2003 remake retells the central premise with Erin and the Hewitt family. The Beginning (2006) is its prequel. Watch in release order to encounter the remake’s mysteries before their explanations, or place The Beginning first for that branch’s internal chronology. Neither film is a missing chapter in Sally’s original story.
Inheritance and origins
Texas Chainsaw 3D (2013) follows the original while setting aside the intervening sequels. Leatherface (2017) provides an origin story associated with that continuity. Its revelations should not be transferred to the remake’s Thomas Hewitt. Shared motifs and a shared franchise title do not make those biographies interchangeable.
Harlow and Sally’s return
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022) follows the original from a later starting point, bringing Sally back through a new performer. It is not presented here as a sequel to Heather’s story in Texas Chainsaw 3D. The archive keeps each character incarnation attached to its own film so readers can compare them without silently merging them.