Spider-Man: Surprise actors did not sign on to No Way Home until halfway through filming

Spoilers for ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ below

The writers of Spider-Man: No Way Home have revealed that some of the surprise actors in the movie did not sign on until halfway through filming.

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the film’s writers – Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers – gave fans a behind-the-scenes look into the newly released third entry in the MCU’s Homecoming trilogy, which stars Tom Holland as Spider-Man.

Excitement surrounding the release was huge with many fans speculating that the film would see previous iterations of the web-slinger (played by Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire) appear alongside Holland’s superhero.

Spoilers for No Way Home below!

Since the film’s release on 15 December, the rumours have been confirmed. Garfield and Maguire do star, despite the film’s cast repeatedly denying the speculation.

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While the pair’s appearance was pivotal to the storyline, McKenna and Sommers have said that securing the two actors was not always a certainty. They signed on to No Way Home when the film was already halfway through its shooting schedule.

The film began shooting in October 2020, with Maguire and Garfield signing onto the project in December 2020. Filming wrapped in March 2021.

In addition to Garfield and Maguire, villains from past Spider-Man franchises also appeared, including Alfred Molina’s Doc Ock, Willem Dafore’s Green Goblin, and Jamie Foxx’s Electro.

Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker (Sony/Columbia)

Despite not knowing if they had succeeded in securing the return of so many actors, McKenna said he and Sommers had to proceed as though they had.

“All you can do is act like we’re getting everybody that we want and let the powers that be reach out to those people and see if this can actually become a reality,” said McKenna.

The appearance of Garfield has resulted in some fans calling for the Tick, Tick… Boom! star to reprise his role as Peter Parker in a potential third entry in his The Amazing Spider-Man franchise.

Read The Independent’s three-star review of Spider-Man: No Way Home here.