Andrew Garfield says he waited to see if Tobey Maguire was going to appear in 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' before signing on
- Andrew Garfield spoke to Deadline about his decision to suit up again as Spider-Man in "No Way Home."
- Garfield said he was "just waiting to see" if Tobey Maguire was also going to reprise his role.
Andrew Garfield said that he waited to see if Tobey Maguire would agree to appear in "Spider-Man: No Way Home" before he signed on for the film.
"Well, I was just waiting to see if Tobey was going to do it, and if Tobey was going to do it, then I was like, 'Well, I have no choice,' you know? I follow Tobey to the ends of the Earth. I'm a lemming for Tobey," Garfield said in a new interview with Deadline's Pete Hammond. "But that was sincerely a big part of it when I was approached about it."
Garfield was joined by costars Maguire and Tom Holland to discuss their work in Jon Watts' "No Way Home," which was released on December 17 and marked Holland's third standalone Spidey film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Maguire first portrayed Peter Parker/Spider-Man on the big screen in Sam Raimi's trilogy that was released between 2002 and 2009, and costarred Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson.
In 2012, Sony rebooted the franchise and enlisted Garfield to play the titular character in Marc Webb's "The Amazing Spider-Man," with Emma Stone costarring as Gwen Stacy.
Webb, Garfield, and Stone returned for a sequel that was released two years later. The sequel received mixed reactions from fans and critics. "TASM 2" also set up a third movie featuring the supervillain group known as the Sinister Six, but plans for a sequel were scrapped.
Maguire and Garfield reprised their roles for "NWH," much to the delight of fans who had been suspecting it for months.
In the film, visitors from the multiverse — namely villains from Maguire and Garfield's movies — enter Holland's world after a spell cast by Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) goes terribly wrong.
Maguire and Garfield's characters enter the film by way of portals opened by Ned Leeds (Jacob Batalon), Peter's best friend.
When Maguire and Garfield's versions of Peter meet Holland's character, they try to console him after the death of his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei). Then, the three Spider-Men work together to develop cures for the villains before sending them back to their universes.
In interviews, Maguire and Garfield have said that when they were pitched their returns in the film, they were enticed by the idea that their characters wouldn't show up for quick cameos. Instead, they'd be an integral part of the film and the journey of Holland's teen web-slinger.
"It wasn't like they were just asking us to come and say hi and then leave again but actually have our presence being in service to Tom, being in service to Tom's journey and where he is as Peter Parker," Garfield told Deadline.
Garfield also previously told Variety that the image of his character saving Zendaya's MJ during the film's major battle sequence sold him on the whole pitch and made him want to be part of "NWH."