By December 2020, Maguire and Garfield were both secretly signed on to the project but had yet to receive any script pages.
McKenna and Sommers hunkered down before Christmas to get pages to Maguire and Garfield. The writers were relieved to find that the actors not only liked what they read, but were also enthusiastic partners in developing their characters further.
“They had thoughts, and it was really interesting and helpful to see their thoughts,” Sommers tells The Hollywood Reporter. “No one knows the character as well as — or gives as much thought to the character — as someone who has to then embody it and sell it. … It definitely shaped what we did.”
Maguire, who played Spider-Man in three films from 2002-07, wanted to keep things quite minimal when it came to revelations about his character post-Spider-Man 3. Garfield, who starred in two Amazing Spider-Man films from 2012-14, embraced exploring the dark path his Peter Parker went down after the death of Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) in Amazing Spider-Man 2. He also latched on to the notion that his version of Peter was the middle brother.
“They had great ideas that really elevated everything we were going for and added layers and an arc and we really actually started honing into the idea that these two guys were really helping Tom’s Peter on his journey to becoming who he ends up becoming,” says McKenna. “There’s a crucial, moral moment that they help him get through in the climax of the movie. So much of that was brought by Tobey and Andrew’s ideas and shaping of what they thought their characters could bring to this story.”
