When The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was released in 2014, the plan was for Andrew Garfield to return as Peter Parker in Sinister Six, The Amazing Spider-Man 3, The Amazing Spider-Man 4, and possibly even a Venom movie.
However, when the sequel was released to negative reviews and a so-so box office haul that, due to a wildly inflated budget, made the movie a box office flop, plans changed. Sony Pictures decided to team up with Marvel Studios, rebooting the wall-crawler and casting Tom Holland as Garfield's replacement in Captain America: Civil War.
For Garfield, it was an abrupt end to his time playing Spider-Man, though he was able to reprise the role - to widespread acclaim - in last year's Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Talking to GQ, the actor explained how his return resolved past feelings.
"I don’t know if I had an expectation of doing more. I was very open to it being whatever it was meant to be," Garfield explains. "But there was an undone feeling. Like, What was that experience about? And how do I close that circle in my living room on my own?"
"And I was doing that - and then it was like that classic thing, when you’re getting over a relationship, and you’re first starting to really feel free and untethered from that thing - the person knows to call the hour after the first good night’s sleep you’ve had."
"But doing [No Way Home] was really just kind of beautiful. I got to treat it like a short film about Spider-Man with buddies. The pressure was off of me. It was all on Tom’s shoulders. Like, it’s his trilogy," he continued. "And me and Tobey were there to provide support and have as good a time as possible, actually, and be as inventive, imaginative, and kind of dumb as possible."
"Y’know, between the three of us, I was like, Oh shit, this is going to be interesting. You have three people who feel real ownership over this character. But it was really, like, brotherhood first, I think. And I think that comes through in what we shot."
Since Garfield's return as his web-slinger, fans have made it known they want to see more of him as Peter. However, we've seen rumblings online that the actor doesn't trust Sony Pictures to make a good movie in The Amazing Spider-Man 3, no great surprise when you compare Venom and Morbius to Marvel Studios' Spider-Man trilogy.
Hopefully, rumours of a cameo in Avengers: Secret Wars prove to be correct, though there has also been chatter that Garfield, Maguire, and Holland will all show up in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse!
If Spider-Man: No Way Home was it for Garfield, it was one heck of a way to make an exit...