After months of speculation, Spider-Man: No Way Home brought back two iconic former Spideys: Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire, who reprised their characters from alternate timelines to help Tom Holland's Peter Parker save the day once more.
The moment was a particularly redemptive one for Garfield's Peter Parker, who received mixed critical reviews back in the early 2010s but who always felt (in our humble opinion) like a sensitive, compassionate Spidey that deserved better. In a new interview with Variety, Garfield opened up about what convinced him to return to the role, and part of the reason was that it felt “incredibly fun, incredibly spiritual — trippy and thematically interesting.”
“The pitch was really, really enticing,” he continued. “They said, ‘You played this character in your way and what would you want to explore if you had an opportunity? If you were dumped into this other universe and faced with this younger you and this older you, how will you respond?’”
If you haven't seen the movie and plan to, don't read any further. But if you have, you'll know one scene specifically brought the series full circle, giving Garfield's Peter a chance at healing.
In a climactic part of the film, Zendaya's MJ falls backward in a replication of the fall Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) took in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, the one that resulted in her death. Garfield's Peter was unable to save her with his webbing. “I will say the image of my catching [Zendaya’s] MJ — that was really beautiful and it kind of sold me on the whole thing,” Garfield told Variety.
“My Spider-Man got to save his younger brother’s romantic relationship, potentially,” he added. “And to heal the most traumatic moment of his own life through doing it for his younger brother. Making sure that he didn’t have the same fate, there’s something cosmically beautiful about that. It meant getting a second chance at saving Gwen. You know, the spirit that Zendaya brings to MJ is so heartfelt and pure and loving, and Emma brought that similar unique spirit to Gwen … It was joyful, and a feeling of closure for me. There was so many unanswered questions for my Peter, where we left it. I got to step back in and get some healing for him."
Cue our tears. Check out the whole interview over at Variety.
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