Thomas Hewitt is the main killer of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake series. He was born in a slaughterhouse and left to die in a dumpster. He was discovered by Luda Mae Hewitt while she was searching for food to feed her poor family and she took him home to raise. It was soon discovered that Thomas had a degenerative facial disease that discolored his skin and rotted off his nose. Due to this disease Thomas was treated badly by his peers, which may have caused his reclusiveness lack of emotion in the series. It was revealed that Thomas was also self-mutilatory and made masks out of animals as a young child.

Thomas would later take employment in the local Slaughterhouse (which was, ironically, where he was born), hiding his disfigurement with a small muzzle mask. After the slaughterhouse was condemned, his boss and another employee attempted to drive him out, insulting him by calling him a "dumb animal" and a "retard." Acting on a long-burning rage, Thomas beat and killed his boss with a sledgehammer and stole a chainsaw which would become his iconic weapon. After his Uncle Charlie assumed the identity of the local sheriff, Thomas would began torturing and butchering the victims that Charlie would usually spot and at times kidnap. After torturing and killing one victim, Thomas skinned his face and used the skin as a mask, another trademark that earned him the moniker, "Leatherface."

After one of his victims severed his arm and escaped the police discovered the Hewitts deeds, Thomas attacked and killed two police officers and fled. He was never captured and the case today remains open.