After The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Andrew Garfield’s Spidey was saddled with an iffy reputation. With Tom Holland the hot new thing in town and Tobey Maguire still iconic from the Raimiverse trilogy, Garfield was left stuck in the middle. His movies aren’t masterpieces, his character development was never concluded, and studio interference left him alienated and miserable.
All of which meant it was wonderful to see him back in the suit in Spider-Man: No Way Home, with his performance being received so positively there have been calls to bring him back for more. Now, in an interview with the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Garfield has revealed what convinced him to sign on:
“I went to their offices, and they basically said, well this is what we want to do. We think it can really work. We don’t have a script yet. We don’t want it to be like a stunt thing. We don’t want it to be like a kind of a cameo, like a quick in and out. We want it to be actually in service to Tom’s journey as Peter and in service to both of your different Peters and we really think there’s something really interesting to explore about when these three lone wolves who think they’re alone in the universe in their own singular experience of being Spider-Man come together, what we think, and we want to collaborate on it, basically.
We want to have your input and your ideas and Amy was really amazing with that because she knows that I come with a lot of thoughts and creativity and imagination and she was very good at setting that up with those guys. And they were they were just like, ‘Yes, this is the way we want to work. We want it to be a collaboration.'”
They later sent over some draft script pages to Garfield, and there was one moment that meant he had to take the job:
“The main image that they pitched me was catching Zendaya, catching MJ. That was the first pages I saw and I was kind of like, ‘There’s no way of not doing this,’ because that’s profound. That’s a profound moment like an older brother saving his little brother from his same fate across the universe. If that portal hadn’t been opened up. and my Peter Parker hadn’t been there at that moment, it’s arguable that he would have had the same fate.
You suddenly get into this incredible cosmic, meant-to-be destined moment where I get to heal the worst trauma in my life while simultaneously saving my little brother from having to experience that same trauma. Suddenly you’re in very mythic territory, and it’s just profoundly beautiful.”
We’ve previously heard Garfield discussing how the three Spidey’s spent time comparing notes on their respective Spidey suits. It appears that Garfield’s had at least one benefit over Holland’s, as he could easily remove his gloves. Meanwhile, Holland’s gloves were stuck on, preventing him from using his phone while shooting unless he controlled the touchscreen with his nose.
His return hasn’t been ruled out, and Sony may seize the opportunity to add this version of Spider-Man to their Venomverse. I hope this pans out, as it could be some time before we see the MCU Spider-Man back in action.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is now in theaters.