Spider-Man: No Way Home Director Says Reddit Changed How Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield's Characters Appeared

The uncover of classical Spider-Men Toby Maguire and Andrew Garfield successful Spider-Man: No Way Home was influenced by a reddit station seen by the film's manager Jon Watts.

Speaking astatine the Mediterrane Film Festival, Watts said the internet's frenzied speculation implicit Maguire and Garfield appearing successful the movie had led 1 instrumentality to mock up however they saw the brace of characters being re-introduced to audiences — and it was simply excessively adjacent to Watt's archetypal imaginativeness for comfort.

In response, Watt said, filmmakers past crafted an wholly antithetic instauration for the classical Spider-Men — successful the location of sidekick Ned's grandma — to deliberately upend instrumentality expectations.

"There had been rumors that Tobey and Andrew were going to beryllium successful the movie, and this is portion we're shooting," Watts said (thanks, Collider). "We were penning the script, and we were moving connected wherever we wanted to uncover the guys, and it ever seemed similar Peter's going to beryllium bittersweet due to the fact that Aunt May has conscionable died, and that the portals are going to open, and the 2 Spider-Men are going to measurement out. It's astir apt a rooftop somewhere. It's each benignant of hazy. You're inactive trying to fig it out.

"Then I was connected reddit, and I was looking astatine radical who had already made instrumentality creation of, 'This is astir apt what it's going to beryllium similar erstwhile the 2 Spider-Men get revealed.' It was connected a rooftop. It was sad, 2 Doctor Strange portals were unfastened and 2 Spider-Men are stepping out. I was like, 'Well, we can't bash that. If that's precisely what everyone thinks we’re going to do, we perfectly can't bash that.'"

Describing his thought process arsenic 1 wherever helium trusted the assemblage to beryllium omniscient capable to spot wherever the communicative was going, but were inactive keen to beryllium amazed astir however it got there, Watts said helium asked himself wherever nary instrumentality would expect the long-awaited instrumentality of Maguire and Garfield to instrumentality place.

"I was like, 'Probably having the 2 Spider-Men look astatine Ned’s Filipino grandma's location successful Queens,'" Watts said. "I don't deliberation anyone was doing instrumentality creation of that connected reddit. It made cleanable consciousness successful the communicative due to the fact that it's benignant of the archetypal clip we permission Peter's narrative.

"We don't cognize what's happened to [Tom Holland's Peter Parker]. We're with Ned, we're with MJ. They person to laic low. Where are they going to go? Ned's grandma's house. So, we built this full country astir that."

Watts went connected to uncover that changing plans had been analyzable by filming taking spot amid Covid lockdowns, meaning the histrion who ended up playing Ned's grandma was "not an actor" astatine all.

"As soon arsenic you adhd his grandma, who is not an actor… It was the mediate of the pandemic, truthful we had to find a woman and alert her from Hawaii to Atlanta to sprout each of this," Watts recalled. "So, arsenic soon arsenic you enactment her successful that country and alteration the location, present I consciousness similar I've double-crossed the assemblage successful the champion way, wherever they're seeing everything that they were hoping that they would spot successful a mode that they were ne'er expecting they were going to."

Tom Holland volition instrumentality adjacent twelvemonth successful Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which is owed to statesman filming imminently. Joining Holland volition beryllium Stranger Things prima Sadie Sink successful an undisclosed role, alongside MCU seasoned Jon Bernthal reprising his relation arsenic Punisher. Maguire and Garfield are not expected to instrumentality — though who knows what multiversal shenanigans mightiness necessitate their attraction successful either Avengers: Doomsday, oregon much likely, Avengers: Secret Wars.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social