Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers about “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
Andrew Garfield is finally talking about his extended cameo in “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
In a Variety interview published Thursday, the former web-slinger discussed his return to the franchise, which saw him teaming up with veteran Spider-Man Tobey Maguire to help Tom Holland’s Peter Parker save the multiverse.
In the lead up to the release of “Spider-Man: No Way Home” in December, Garfield continually batted away speculation from Marvel fans that he would appear in the film. During an appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” in September, he even went as far as insisting a viral image of him on set with Maguire was fake.
Garfield’s incarnation of Spider-Man debuted in 2012’s “The Amazing Spider-Man.” His spidey senses were tingled again two years later when he reprised the role in “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” The sequel ended on a sad note with the death of his love interest, Gwen Stacy, played by Emma Stone.
According to Garfield, he “wasn’t expecting to ever have a conversation again about potentially playing Peter Parker,” but a phone call from producers Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal, and director Jon Watts offering Garfield a shot at redemption changed everything.
In “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” Garfield’s Spider-Man is able to save Holland’s love interest, MJ, played by Zendaya. This plotline cemented Garfield’s decision to return to the franchise.
“There was so many unanswered questions for my Peter, where we left it. I got to step back in and get some healing for him,” the 38-year-old star told Variety.
He added that returning to the franchise allowed his character “to heal the most traumatic moment” and there’s something “cosmically beautiful” about his character getting a second chance to save Gwen.
Garfield, whose acting credits “tick, tick…BOOM!”, “Hacksaw Ridge,” and “The Social Network” also revealed that he would definitely welcome the opportunity to suit up as Spider-Man again “if it felt right.”
Speaking about playing the iconic teenager-turned-superhero, he said: “Peter and Spider-Man, those characters are all about service, to the greater good and the many. He’s a working-class boy from Queens that knows struggle and loss and is deeply empathetic. I would try to borrow Peter Parker’s ethical framework in that, if there was an opportunity to step back in and tell more of that story, I would have to feel very sure and certain in myself.”
“Spider-Man: No Way Home,” made history when it become the second highest opening movie after making a record-breaking $260 million at the domestic box office.
Only 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” one of the biggest blockbusters of all time, opened to higher numbers.