Tom Holland Opens Up About His Regret After Taking 'Spider-Man' Role

Tom Holland took over the role of 'Spider-Man' from Andrew Garfield after Garfield starred in two films of the 'Spider-Man' franchise.

However, before he took on the role, Holland made his debut in "Captain America: Civil War." Since then, he has starred in five other films, including solo movies.

In 2012, Sony restarted the franchise and assigned Holland the role as the younger and newer version of the hero. This was after the previous director, Sam Raimi, admitted feeling exhausted and unhappy with the initial production. Sadly, the reboot proved to be short.

Garfield has since expressed his disappointment in losing the role after two movies in the previous years.

"I never felt like I was able to do enough," Garfield shared in a 2015 interview. "And I couldn't rescue those films, even though I didn't sleep."

Since his reunion with his predecessors, Holland has acknowledged their experience as the superhero and how they'd have felt after it was taken from them. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Holland shared how he never reached out to Garfield to speak to him about taking the role and maintained his regrets.

"Something I can look back on now with a little bit of clarity and regret is that I never called Andrew Garfield when I took over as Spider-Man," Holland said. "Had someone said to me after my second movie that I was done, and this other kid was taking over, I would've been heartbroken."

However, after working on the ultra-secretive movie of "Spider-Man: No Way Home," the two actors got to know one another under the perfect atmosphere.

"So looking back, I wish I had the chance to make amends with him, but this film was our opportunity," Holland said. "It was not only an opportunity for Andrew to make peace with the character and the studio, but it was also an opportunity for me and him to have this moment where we realize we could share this thing," Garfield told the outlet.

"The look on his face when he saves Zendaya [MJ] is genuine, and I'm proud of him. I'm chuffed that he got this opportunity to win back the world and for people to be reminded that his Spider-Man movies are fantastic and brilliant in their own right," he added.

Although he was recently assigned the role, Garfield was also in 2012's "The Amazing Spider-Man" and its 2014 sequel.

However, they all appeared on-screen on "No Way Home" along with the grand predecessor, Toby Maguire.

Holland admitted feeling nervous meeting Garfield and Maguire, revealing that he had emotional support from his girlfriend and on-screen crush, Zendaya.

"At our first rehearsal, I had asked Jacob and Zendaya to come with me to just kind of be there as, like, my support system," Holland mentioned to Deadline last month. "Like, 'I'm gonna go meet these guys, I'm really nervous about it.'"

Holland also expressed his full support for another episode starring Garfield. "I would love to see The Amazing Spider-Man 3," Holland told Comicbook.com last week. "I think what was so wonderful was how Andrew was able to kind of make amends with the character and the studio, you know, to kind of win the general public back."

The movie was one of the best movies last year. This was mainly because of the exquisite depiction of Holland as the main character. However, the star had an altercation with studios Marvel and Sony during the film's press tour.

Despite that, the film was a pure nostalgic festival for fans. This is because it combines and reunites the three Spider-Men in a single story; Garfield and Maguire were allowed to fight alongside Holland against the greatest villains of Spider-Man.

"No Way Home" was dramatic, emotional, funny, and quite brutal on different levels. This was what Holland kept pointing out while on tour for the film, causing the altercation.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor disclosed that he got a call from Sony and Marvel after repeatedly describing "No Way Home" with sentiments. 

"They called me and said, 'Stop saying the movie is brutal. Stop saying the movie is emotional. That doesn't sell the film well."

Holland stuck to his gun and described the film during the phone call as the "most emotional superhero film of all time."

"It's funny, but it's also kind of heartbreaking," he added. Although he was forced to change his method of promotion, he was glad he "was able to warn a few people at least."

The movie, however, turned out to be the biggest film of the year. This was amiss in the movie industry, mainly due to the covid-19 pandemic.