In the months before the highly anticipated release ofSpider-Man: No Way Home, Marvel fans spent the better part of 2021 speculating about what other characters would be featured in the movie, after the trailer revealed the return ofAlfred Molinaas fan-favorite villain Doc Ock, and teased the participation of the Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe). However, former Spider-ManAndrew Garfieldhad a huge role in quashing fan theories as he frequently told interviewers that he was not going to be in the movie — despite what sometrailers suggested.
Now that the cat’s out of the bag, we know that Garfield just flat-out lied that whole time, and as he revealed toThe Wrap, he had a lot of fun doing it. In a recent interview, the Academy Award nominee revealed that he made this decision based on his own experiences going to the movies: that he’d rather be kept guessing until the lights went out than having everything spoiled beforehand.
Garfield also spoke about the mixed feelings that he had during interviews and that he ultimately came to enjoy the process of keeping his appearance inNo Way Homea secret:
“It was like this massive game of Werewolf that I was playing with journalists and with people guessing, and it was very fun. There were moments where I was like, ‘God, I hate lying.’ I don’t like to lie and I’m not a good liar, but I kept framing it as a game. And I kept imagining myself purely as a fan of that character, which is not hard to do. […] I placed myself in that position of, well, what would I want to know? Would I want to be toyed with? Would I want to be lied to? Would I want to be kept on my toes guessing? Would I want to discover it when I went to the theater? Would I want to be guessing, guessing, guessing? […]
I would want the actor to do an incredibly good job at convincing me he wasn’t in it. And then I would want to lose my mind in the theater when my instinct was proven right. That’s whatIwould want.”
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The “game” paid off: not only were fans in the first screenings unsure if Garfield would be featured in the film alongsideTom Holland(andTobey Maguire, as the film would reveal), but anticipation played a good part in helpingSpider-Man: No Way Homebreak records and becoming one of thehighest-grossing films ever– an incredible result if you consider that box office numbers have been relatively modest during the pandemic.
And that’s not all: Garfield’s participation had fans demanding that Sony bring him back in a thirdThe Amazing Spider-Manmovie, since he’s the only Peter Parker that didn’t get to do a full trilogy. The actor also addressed this idea last week, saying he’snot opposedto the idea. If that happens, will he lie to us until the premiere again?
