WARNING: This article contains discussion of and spoilers for Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The recent release of Spider-Man: No Way Home took the internet and box office by storm, quickly trending online and breaking records after its premiere weekend. Speculation about Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s roles had been discussed throughout the production of the film, but fans could never tell if the two were involved due to the amount of denial from the actors. Due to his blockbuster 2021, Andrew Garfield was especially vocal in his denial about appearing in the year.
Due to the vehement denial of Garfield and Maguire's involvement in the film, the spoilers around the movie were well guarded, especially avoiding the shocking moment of the live-action Spider-Men returning to film. While it landed amazingly well in No Way Home, it did make the almost year-long denial tour pretty insane in retrospect, given how often the actors had to deny everything.
Tom Holland On The Tonight Show
Way back in February 2021, Tom Holland made a virtual appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Fallon did his best to try and get Holland to spoil some part of the movie.
Holland remained strong and told Fallon that “it would be a miracle if they kept that from [him] but at the moment there’s no cameo from the two boys” when asked about Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s involvement. Given Holland’s reputation for accidentally spoiling Marvel details, it was a miracle that he survived the entire press tour without revealing this major secret.
Andrew Garfield For Access Hollywood
In early May, Andrew Garfield addressed Spider-Man: No Way Home rumors in a virtual interview with Access Hollywood. “I think it’s a cool idea,” he said after the topic was brought up, then proceeded to say, “I hate being given the responsibility of disappointing people. It’s not something that I’ve been asked about.” It is a fantastic thing that Garfield didn’t disappoint anyone in the end, as he was asked about Spider-Man: No Way Home and delivered a wonderful performance during his moments on screen.
Andrew Garfield On Happy Sad Confused Podcast
Also in May, Andrew Garfield made a guest appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast where host Josh Horowitz asked about the Spider-Man: No Way Home rumors. Garfield laughed off the topic, telling Horowitz, “They might be doing something, but I ain’t got a call.”
While it is possible that he didn’t receive a phone call and only met in person to discuss the third installment of the MCU’s Spider-Man movies, it is now very clear that Garfield wasn’t being completely honest in this interview.
Andrew Garfield On The Tonight Show
In September, Andrew Garfield made an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to promote his musical movie Tick, Tick… Boom!, where he stars as Rent writer Jonathan Larson. Fallon brings up a leaked photograph from the set of Spider-Man: No Way Home that places Garfield in his The Amazing Spider-Man suit on location for the movie.
Garfield eventually admits that he “heard about it and [he] did see it” before claiming that “it’s a Photoshop.” It seemed as though Fallon didn’t believe him, which is fair considering the world now knows that it certainly was not Photoshop.
Andrew Garfield On The Today Show
In November, Andrew Garfield appeared on The Today Show as part of his Tick, Tick… Boom! press tour and was once again asked if he was in any way involved in Spider-Man: No Way Home. “You guys are good at your job but I’m better at mine,” Garfield told the pair of hosts after they attempted to get him to mention his involvement in the MCU.
He went on to say that he was not in the movie, but was excited to go in and enjoy the film as a fan. Garfield no doubt enjoyed the movie as a fan, just as much as he enjoyed being a cast member of the film.
Andrew Garfield For GQ
Andrew Garfield went online to answer fan questions on the internet in November as well as part of GQ’s Actually Me segment. He responded to a YouTube comment underneath his Tonight Show appearance where a fan had wondered why Jimmy Fallon didn’t show a leaked set video in addition to the leaked photo of Garfield on the set of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Garfield said, “Listen at this point I’m done, we’ll all find out when the movie comes out… I’m sorry in advance.” The movie came out, and the internet learned that Garfield is excellent at keeping Marvel secrets.
Tom Holland For GQ
Tom Holland sat down with GQ for an interview in November where, naturally, he promoted the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home. The actor was talking about the confirmed actors returning from the previous Spider-Man films, including Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, and Jamie Foxx. During the interview, Holland discussed the Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield rumors.
He told GQ, “No one believes me, but they’re not in the film.” Now, it turned out that Holland was doing his best to make sure he did not accidentally reveal a spoiler. Again, it's impressive that the MCU cast member with infamously loose lips regarding spoilers was able to keep the biggest one of Garfield and Maguire's involvement secret until the premiere.
Andrew Garfield For WIRED
Just a little over a week before Spider-Man: No Way Home officially premiered in December, Andrew Garfield’s WIRED Autocomplete Interview hit the internet and, of course, one of the web’s most searched questions about him revolved around his potential return as Spider-Man. He teased the viewers, saying “Yeah-- you almost got me.”
Garfield then repeatedly insisted that he was not in the movie, but was excited to see what Marvel was doing with the film. No more than ten days after this interview was released, audiences saw Garfield’s Peter Parker return to the big screen.
Tom Holland For AP Entertainment
In early December, Tom Holland did an interview with Associated Press Entertainment where Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield were brought up again. Holland said he thought it was a cool idea and he would have loved to share the screen with them but that, “unfortunately, [he doesn’t] think [they’ll] be able to wear the suits together.”
A few short weeks after this interview, Spider-Man: No Way Home hit theaters and fans were ecstatic to see the three men wearing their Spidey costumes together, despite what Holland had recently told the masses.