Sam Raimi is open to returning to direct Spider-Man 4 with Tobey Maguire if the situation were to arise. Sam Raimi's Spider-Man was released in 2002 and was met with critical and box office acclaim breaking opening weekend records. He followed it with two sequels, the highly praised Spider-Man 2 in 2004 and Spider-Man 3 in 2007 which received mixed reactions from audiences. Raimi was originally set to direct Spider-Man 4 with Tobey Maguire which was due out in theaters on May 6, 2011.
However conflicts with the studio led Raimi to drop out of the project and Sony rebooted the franchise with The Amazing Spider-Man in 2012, which itself would be rebooted after the disappointing reaction of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 leading to the character entering the MCU. While it was an abrupt ending for both Sam Raimi as a director of the franchise and Tobey Maguire's tenure as Peter Parker, in 2021 Maguire returned as his version of The Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Raimi himself joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the director for the upcoming Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and with both key players back many have been hoping that Sony would greenlight a potential Spider-Man 4, allowing for the story of the first big-screen Spider-Man to continue.
Raimi appears to be open to the idea of directing Spider-Man 4 himself. In a recent appearance on Moviepilot, Raimi was asked if he would want to revisit his Spider-Man franchise, similar to how the director did with Ash vs. The Evil Dead. While the director might have thought that chapter was closed, it appears working on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and his version of Spider-Man appearing in Spider-Man: No Way Home via the multiverse may have opened the door up for the director creatively as it is no longer just a linear path for franchises. Raimi said:
"I didn't think it was possible but after jumping back in with the multiverse I realized just like Doctor Strange does, anything is possible now. So I'm completely open to it."
Many details have been shared about Raimi's plans for Spider-Man 4, including that the film would have had John Malkovich play the lead villain Vulture, and Anne Hathaway would play Felicia Hardy but instead of suiting up as Black Cat, she would be the Vulturess. The film would have opened with Spider-Man apprehending many classic villains including Shocker and Mysterio who was rumored to be played by Bruce Campbell. The Spider-Man 4 script was completed but given the amount of time that has passed, and the fact that the studio has other plans for Vulture a potential Spider-Man 4 may have to take another route.
Sony Pictures has a lot of plans to grow out its Spider-Man franchise. They have an animated corner of the franchise going with the upcoming Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse set for release in 2023 and a third film Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse for 2024. On the live-action side, they have their own interconnected universe which includes the two Venom movies and Morbius, and will also include the upcoming Kraven the Hunter, Madame Web, and El Muerto. With two separate Spider-Man franchises running as well as the one connected to the MCU, and with how well other long-awaited sequels like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, and Halloween have done at the box office, one like Spider-Man 4 seems like easy money for Sony.
Source: Moviepilot