His spidey senses are tingling! After keeping his Marvel Cinematic Universe cameo a secret long before Spider-Man: No Way Home hit theaters in December 2021, Andrew Garfield is spilling all the tea about putting the spandex suit back on and the most “beautiful” moments from set.
“I wasn’t expecting to ever have a conversation again about potentially playing Peter Parker. I felt very excited to just to be a fan again,” Garfield — who initially played the web-slinging superhero in 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man and its 2014 sequel — told Variety in an interview published on Thursday, January 6. “But I got this call from [producers] Amy Pascal and Kevin Feige and [director] Jon Watts with this idea. It was immediately undeniable. It sounded incredibly fun, incredibly spiritual — trippy and thematically interesting. On a base level, as a Spider-Man fan, just the idea of seeing three Spider-Men in the same frame was enough.”
Following the aftermath of Mysterio’s (Jake Gyllenhaal) big reveal about Peter Parker (Tom Holland) and his secret identity at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home, the 25-year-old Cherry star enlisted some marvel-ous help to save the world from multiversal villains and to keep his secret safe.
“The pitch was really, really enticing. They said, ‘You played this character in your way and what would you want to explore if you had an opportunity? If you were dumped into this other universe and faced with this younger you and this older you, how will you respond?’ the Tony Award winner, 38, told the outlet about returning to his former role. “We talked a lot about mentorship. We talked a lot about brotherhood and about what it is to be the older brother, younger brother and the middle brother.”
Garfield continued at the time: “That’s a big spiritual journey to go on, man. And then we just milked out all the fun that we could possibly have.”
While fans were equally shocked and excited to see both Garfield and Tobey Maguire return to their spidey roots in No Way Home, the Tick, Tick…Boom! star had previously remained mum about his part in the MCU, even fervently denying it on multiple occasions.
“There’s nothing to ruin. … I did not get a call,” Garfield previously said during a May 2021 appearance on Josh Horowitz’s “Happy Sad Confused” podcast. “I would’ve gotten a call by now. … But I don’t want to rule anything out. Maybe they want to call me! Maybe they’re going to call me and say, ‘People want this.’ I wish I could just speak to everyone and say, ‘I recommend that you chill. ’They might be doing something, but I ain’t got a call.”
While reflecting on his NWH cameo with Variety, the Hacksaw Ridge actor gushed about costar Zendaya (Michelle “MJ” Jones) and her character’s similarities to his ex Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy.
“You know, the spirit that Zendaya brings to MJ is so heartfelt and pure and loving, and Emma brought that similar unique spirit to Gwen,” Garfield told the outlet, comparing the Euphoria star, 25, to the Oscar winner, 33.
Garfield, for his part, previously dated the La La Land star after they met on the set of their superhero movie. Their four-year romance eventually ended in October 2015.
“It was only beautiful,” he previously told Variety in September 2021 about his Amazing Spider-Man experience. “I got to meet Emma and work with her and Sally Field.”
Scroll below for more of Garfield’s revelations about playing Spider-Man again: