By the time Andrew Garfield made his cameo as Peter Parker in the Tom Holland-led Spider-Man: No Way Home, it had been seven years since the title of the webbed slinging hero had last been his. As his fellow Spider-Men—Holland and Tobey Maguire—carved out trilogies as the lead Marvel hero, Garfield’s time as Spider-Man can feel cut short, with just two films under his belt.
In a new interview with GQ, Garfield says while he takes the experience as what it was, there was this looming feeling of incompletion when it came to the role of Spider-Man, and sought closure the way one would after the end of a relationship.
“I was very open to it being whatever it was meant to be,” Garfield says. “But there was an undone feeling. Like, ‘What was that experience about? And how do I close that circle in my living room on my own?’ And I was doing that—and then it was like that classic thing, when you’re getting over a relationship, and you’re first starting to really feel free and untethered from that thing—the person knows to call the hour after the first good night’s sleep you’ve had.”
When those over at Marvel did come knocking once again for his secret involvement in No Way Home, Garfield was able to take on a different role this time in the MCU.
“Doing [No Way Home] was really just kind of beautiful. I got to treat it like a short film about Spider-Man with buddies,” Garfield says. “The pressure was off of me. It was all on Tom’s shoulders. Like, it’s his trilogy. And me and Tobey were there to provide support and have as good a time as possible, actually, and be as inventive, imaginative, and kind of dumb as possible. Y’know, between the three of us, I was like, Oh shit, this is going to be interesting. You have three people who feel real ownership over this character. But it was really, like, brotherhood first, I think. And I think that comes through in what we shot.”
While Holland remains strapped into the role of Peter Parker, Garfield also had the freedom of returning to the set, doing his thing, and then moving on. He’s even been on a bit of a break from taking on work after knocking out No Way Home, The Eyes Of Tammy Faye, Under The Banner Of Heaven, and Tick, Tick... Boom! It certainly looks like he got the closure he was looking for, and hopefully hung up the Spidey suit once last time with ease.