Even though much of the attention surrounding Spider-Man: No Way Home has centered on whether Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield will be one of the film's many "visitors," the upcoming threequel is still Tom Holland's Peter Parker's story.
Set after the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, Peter Parker is grappling with the loss of his secret identity and having been framed for the murder of Mysterio. The film's first trailer, and now the second, have shown Peter's struggles with this unfortunate turn of events; but due to the film's slew of Multiversal villains, it looks like his problems have only just begun.
But just like how Peter is forced to confront new threats from other universes in No Way Home, Holland also had to face uncertainty and chaos when making the upcoming film.
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In talking with GQ, Tom Holland acknowledged that the drama of No Way Home was an instance of "art imitating life, except I can't swing away in real life."
Even though Maguire and Garfield's involvement in the film is likely one of Hollywood's worst kept secrets, even without them, No Way Home is a wildly ambitious film in that it also stars Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange, five villains from two previous franchises, and tackles the concept of the Multiverse.
According to Holland, “When they first came up with a concept of what they wanted to try and do, it was the impossible concept. But they pulled it off.”
While some may think that impossible concept was Maguire and Garfield, Holland echoed his previous answers to that spoilery question, saying, “No one believes me, but they’re not in the film."
Whether or not that's true, some of the drama Holland experienced on the set of No Way Home related to the fact that key members of the film's cast had yet to sign on when filming was about to begin, according to Holland:
“Some people were trying to figure out whether they wanted to do it, and we needed all of them or none."
Thanks to Holland's social media, fans know that filming began in early November 2020. That timeline, coupled with his new statement, seems to support rumors about Tobey Maguire waiting to sign on to the project and then filming months later.
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It sounds like there was a great deal of uncertainty during Spider-Man: No Way Home's early days of production; and the film's ambitiousness, coupled with those huge question marks, clearly weighed on Holland.
After all, No Way Home is currently the actor's last contractual film as the web-slinger, and in the true spirit of Spider-Man, the role is something he considers a responsibility. Fortunately, it doesn't sound like fans should be worried, as Holland even said, "they pulled it off."
However, the biggest question is just who were the "some people" that Holland was referring to?
Considering Electro's Jamie Foxx broke the news of his return on social media in October 2020, the timeline of the last-minute drama doesn't point to him. The same can be said for Doc Ock's Alfred Molina, since reports from November 2020 claimed the actor had been on set for weeks for stunt work.
The Green Goblin's Willem Dafoe is a possibility; but again, Holland did say "people" and not a person; and if he's referring to Maguire and Garfield, he's right. No Way Home needed "all of them or none."
So, does this statement confirm Garfield and Maguire's roles in No Way Home? Maybe, but thankfully, fans won't have to wait too long to find out, as the film's release is just around the corner.
Spider-Man: No Way Home swings into theaters on December 17, 2021.
