Warning: There are massive spoilers ahead for Spider-Man: No Way Home!
During production of Spider-Man: No Way Home, it was widely rumored that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield would return to the franchise for a multiversal adventure with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. Those rumors turned out to be true. Additionally, Maguire and Garfield were given the opportunity to shape the fates of their respective Spider-Men. During a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers revealed how No Way Home‘s returning actors collaborated with them.
“They had thoughts, and it was really interesting and helpful to see their thoughts,” said Sommers. “No one knows the character as well as — or gives as much thought to the character — as someone who has to then embody it and sell it. It’s always valuable to hear what the actor is thinking. It definitely shaped what we did.”
McKenna noted that “[Maguire and Garfield] had great ideas that really elevated everything we were going for and added layers and an arc and we really actually started honing into the idea that these two guys were really helping Tom’s Peter on his journey to becoming who he ends up becoming. There’s a crucial, moral moment that they help him get through in the climax of the movie. So much of that was brought by Tobey and Andrew’s ideas and shaping of what they thought their characters could bring to this story.”
RELATED: Spider-Man: No Way Home Passes $1 Billion Worldwide
While Garfield’s Amazing Spider-Man/Peter 3 openly talks about his decent into darkness, Maguire’s Spidey doesn’t share many details about his life. According to McKenna, that’s the way that Maguire wanted it.
“Tobey wanted to be very minimal about how much you know,” related McKenna. “Very, very minimal. Andrew really loved the idea of he’s still tortured over what happened in Amazing Spider-Man 2 and where that left him, and how they could bring that to Tom. ‘We can empathize with you. We do know what you are going through. If anyone in the world knows what you’re going through, it’s us.’ But also, ‘We can be beacons.’ Tobey especially has come through that darkness.”
“We thought it was cool that Andrew’s Peter was still in the midst of that darkness,” continued McKenna. “They weren’t just here to go, ‘Two awesome Jedi knight heroes who show up and are going to help you take down the bad guys.’ They are going through their own things. We were trying to write up to the characters that they did such a great job of creating and really being true to those characters and those stories and those worlds so that it didn’t feel like we were doing curtain call, fan-service.”
RELATED: Tom Holland and Zendaya Address No Way Home’s Returning Actors
The writers also mentioned that Maguire, Garfield, and Holland improvised a few parts of their scene on the high school roof. Additionally, the writers leaned into the idea of them as brothers rather than variants.
“I think that dynamic of brothers…while simplistic, it is a great paradigm for the three of them coming together and you want it to feel like, ‘Oh, it’s not just doppelgangers,'” said McKenna. “They are different. They are not the same person… No one knows the heaven and hell if what it is to be in an experience quite like your sibling. No one knows what this family is like. At least they got a sense of, ‘You’re not alone. There’s a community. You guys have each suffered in your own way.’ And then to get help heal each other, it was wonderful to be a part of getting there.”
Spider-Man: No Way Home is out in theaters now.
Were you satisfied by the appearances of the two previous Spider-Men in No Way Home? Let us know in the comment section below!
Recommended Reading: Spider-Man by Todd McFarlane Omnibus
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This affiliate advertising program also provides a means to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. This is also a sentence. And so is this. However, this is the ultimate sentence from the ultimate universe. Just ask Brian Bendis, he seems to know everything Spidey. Also, he writes a lot of comics. But that’s not really relevant to the discussion we’re having here.
