TOM HOLLAND ADMITTED HE’S “APPREHENSIVE” ABOUT RETURNING TO “SPIDER-MAN”

Spider-Man: No Way Home, the supposed final film in the Tom Holland-led trilogy, hit theaters on December 17, 2021. The movie earned the second-highest domestic opening of all time, bringing in more than $260 million at the box office in its first weekend, and since then, amassed more than $600 million in U.S. box office earnings. It’s been over two years since the film’s release, so of course, fans have been clamoring for more details on if — and when — we can expect a fourth installment of the Spidey franchise. Specifically, will we see Tom and Zendaya back on the big screen together?

Understandably, not *too* much has been revealed about the next film. No Way Home was meant to wrap up Tom’s tenure as Peter Parker, but Spider-Man producers Kevin Feige and Amy Pascal have teased multiple times that his story will continue. Here, we break down everything we know about Spider-Man 4.

*Major spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home below!*

Will there be a Spider-Man 4?

Yes! According to a February 2023 Entertainment Weekly interview with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, the Spider-Man 4 script is in the works. “All I will say is that we have the story,” he revealed. “We have big ideas for that, and our writers are just putting pen to paper now.”

In a New York Times interview back in December 2021, Feige and fellow Spider-Man producer Amy Pascal confirmed that a fourth film is OTW. “Amy and I and Disney and Sony are talking about — yes, we’re actively beginning to develop where the story heads next,” Feige said.

Pascal added, “At the end of the movie we just made, you see Spider-Man make a momentous decision, one that you’ve never seen him make before. It’s a sacrifice. And that gives us a lot to work with for the next film.”

But that wasn’t the first remark made about a sequel trilogy. On November 29, 2021, Pascal kickstarted the conversation in an interview with Fandango.

“This is not the last movie that we are going to make with Marvel,” she said. “We are getting ready to make the next Spider-Man movie with Tom Holland and Marvel. We’re thinking of this as three films, and now we’re going to go onto the next three. This is not the last of our MCU movies.”

So, will Tom Holland star in Spider-Man 4?

We’re still waiting for official confirmation. In a Variety interview published on May 31, 2023, Pascal appeared to confirm that Tom will once again reprise his role as Spider-Man. She announced that the project is in the works, but development is paused due to the current Writers Guild of America strike.

“Are we going to make another movie? Of course, we are,” she said. “We’re in the process, but the writers strike, nobody is working during the strike. We’re all being supporters and whenever they get themselves together, we’ll get started.”

Tom hasn’t yet verified his comeback, and in a June 14 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor said that although he’s been in meetings with Marvel execs (including Pascal, Feige, and executive producer Rachel O’Connor) about a fourth film, he’s “apprehensive” to step back back into the Spidey suit.

“It’s a collaborative process. The first few meetings were about, ‘Why would we do this again?’ And I think we found the reason why. I’m really, really happy with where we’re at in terms of the creative,” Tom explained. “But I’m also a little apprehensive about it... There’s a bit of a stigma about the fourth one in all franchises. I feel like we hit a home run with our first franchise and there’s a part of me that wants to walk away with my head held high and pass the baton to the next lucky kid that gets to bring this character to life.”

Tom is currently eight months into a one-year break from acting, as he recently discussed during an appearance on Live with Kelly and Mark: “I’m 8 months into my year off, I’ve been chilling at home in London, going to Grand Prix, playing golf,” he said. While it’s unclear if Tom’s first post-hiatus project is a return to the Spidey-Verse, he told Entertainment Tonight on June 1 that he’s open to the project: “I think as long as we can do justice to Peter Parker. As long as we can keep elevating and making the films better and making them mean more, then I’ll be there,” he said.

In a May 2022 interview with Deadline, Sony Pictures exec Tom Rothman was asked whether Spider-Man 4 would include Tom, Zendaya, and director Jon Watts, to which he responded, “That whole group, we hope.”

Rumblings of Tom’s return began way back in December 2021, when No Way Home hit theaters. Speaking with Variety at the premiere, Pascal enthusiastically expressed wanting to work with Tom again: “As long as he wants to make Spider-Man movies, we will make Spider-Man movies,” she said. “But I’m a producer and I always think everything’s going to work out.” When the interviewer asked explicitly if we’ll see Tom as Spider-Man again, Pascal responded: “If I have my way we will.”

Will Zendaya return to the franchise?

If you’ve seen No Way Home, then you know that the film ends with everyone forgetting who Peter Parker is — including Zendaya’s character, MJ. Peter decides not to reveal his real identity to her, and she and Ned head off to MIT.

The storyline is left fairly open-ended, leaving fans to speculate if we’ll see MJ (or Ned) in future installments. Although Zendaya hasn’t made any public comments about returning to the MCU, the May 2023 Variety interview with Pascal seemed to suggest that she will reprise her role. But for now, we’ll have to wait for the official confirmation.

2021-12-20T20:30:11Z dg43tfdfdgfd