No Way Home Writers Hope Legacy Spider-Man Characters Can Return
Spider-Man: No Way Home screenwriters, Erik Sommers and Chris McKenna say they want to see legacy Spider-Man actors return in a future instalment. Moviegoers have been thrilled these before two weeks to discern Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield return and join Tom Holland in No Way Home. Audience reaction videos of their reveal event have been going around social media, and they all contain a significant amount of cheering.
The anticipation for Spider-Man: No Way Home was unprecedented for the Covid-19 pandemic era, clearly shown by the film already has grossed $1 billion at the worldwide box office. The marketing for No Way Home encompassed classic villains like Green Goblin and Doc Ock, which led to speculation of Maguire and Garfield’s returns but no confirmation until the movie was released earlier this month. The presence of these villains and the mere possibility of three Spider-Men in one film made this easily the most anticipated film of the year
Screenwriters Sommers and McKenna recently discussed in an interview with Variety the likelihood of Maguire and Garfield returning in a future Spider-Man film. When asked about this, McKenna states that he “would hope so!” and “would love to see more of their journey.” He even said the team was discussing various characters to encompass in a post-credits scene before ultimately committing to Venom’s cameo. They were referring to the possibility of having a post-credits scene setting up a future instalment for the older Spider-Men. Perhaps, it would have even featured another character from their universes. Read what McKenna said when asked about the prospect of future Spider-Man movies with Maguire and Garfield below:
McKenna: I would hope so! I would love to see more of their journey. We even talked about, ‘Oh, we could do a [post-credits] tab with this one! We could do a tag with that one!’
Sommers then jokingly brought up that he wanted to make “a TV show with the two of them [Maguire and Garfield] travelling around in a van solving mysteries.” McKenna jokingly confirms that this is happening. This sounds similar to Scooby-Doo but with no dog involved. That theory is probably something that many fans would enjoy, but it would not do justice to the legacy of the two iterations of Spider-Man.
It is very unlikely that Marvel Studios and Sony would produce a show with Maguire and Garfield. While some Disney+ series have been produced about more minor characters such as WandaVision and Hawkeye, it is unlikely that there would be a live-action series about a character as major as Spider-Man. It was announced in November that the Spider-Man: Freshman Year animated series would be arriving at Disney+, however, it is doubtful that a live-action Spider-Man instalment would occur outside of theatres. A more proper way to continue the legacy of the earlier Spider-Men would be in film continuations of their characters’ voyages after Spider-Man: No Way Home. They would also prove to be more profitable for Sony.