Andrew Garfield landed the role of a lifetime after Sony had cast him to star as their newest Marvel Cinematic Universe member in Spider-Man, the 2014 superhero reboot flick, The Amazing Spider-Man. The British actor certainly had big shoes to fill following Toby Maguire’s departure from the franchise, who practically made the live-action films so successful, to begin with.

Andrew’s version of Spider-Man was well-received following the film’s highly-anticipated release and fans were generally happy with his performance. The motion picture went on to gross a whopping $750 million at the box office, making it very clear to Sony that this franchise hadn’t lost its momentum.

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A follow-up, titled The Amazing Spider-Man 2, was announced shortly after, with a release date set in May 2014, which pulled in another $710 million for the Hollywood studio. Well, things took a turn for Andrew Garfield after a tiff with Sony, ultimately leaving him blacklisted from Hollywood. So, what really went down? Let's find out!

Updated on September 30, 2021, by Michael Chaar: In 2012, Andrew Garfield took on the role of Peter Paker/Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man. He reprised the role again in 2014, however, a year later, Garfield was let go by Sony after having missed a major conference in Brazil that was set to announce the third Spider-Man film involving Andrew. Well, this led to the actor becoming blacklisted for a moment in Hollywood, as the execs at Sony weren't very happy with him. Luckily for Andrew, not only have rumors been swirling around over a possible return to the Spider-Man multiverse, but he is set to appear in the upcoming Netflix film, Tick, Tick...Boom! which is gaining a lot of Oscar buzz, proving that despite the mess he found himself in years ago, Andrew is back at the top of his game.

Why Was Andrew Garfield Fired?

Fans found out what really happened to Andrew Garfield and his relationship with Sony during the infamous leaked emails scandal concerning the studio in May 2015. A series of back-and-forth chats between Sony executives revealed that Andrew was “let go” after failing to show up to a conference in Brazil where it was going to be announced that a third film was in the works and expected to enter cinemas in July 2017.

Andrew not being present to share the news with fans was a huge letdown for Sony boss Kaz Hirai, who had also flown into the country just for the announcement. According to Cinema Blend, the Hacksaw Ridge star had complained of an illness caused by jetlag, which had prevented him from leaving his hotel where he was staying after arriving in Rio for the event — but it seems as if his former colleagues weren’t satisfied with his reasons.

Following the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Sony had already said they were planning on working on a tremendous expansion of the franchise that would consist of a range of spin-offs, which later included several crossover films with Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame and Infinity War along with 2016’s Captain America: Civil War.

Related: Spider-Man Fans Confused As Andrew Garfield Is Photographed On Set

Tom Holland To The Rescue

Since Andrew was a no-show, Sony wasted no time in canceling all further projects with the 37-year-old, which meant that a third installment had now been halted and that a new actor would reprise the role of Peter Parker when the studio was ready to begin working on another reboot.

It didn’t take long, though, because just months after his alleged firing, Tom Holland was cast as the new Spider-Man, making his first appearance in Captain America: Civil War before making his solo feature debut in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming. His second film in the series with 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home performed even better as it generated more than $1.1 billion in revenue.

One thing that can’t be denied about the Spider-Man franchise is that no matter how many times the protagonist gets replaced, these particular films will always have a dedicated fanbase who don’t seem to take issue with a new actor portraying the role every other few years. Although, it seems Tom will be sticking around for at least four more movies. At the end of 2020, it was reported that the 25-year-old was in talks to extend his contract to continue playing Spider-Man for another six movies.

Related: What Is Andrew Garfield Doing In 2021, And Will He Return To Spider-Man?

Are Andrew Garfield And Tobey Maguire Returning?

There were rumors that Andrew and Tobey would be joining Tom for a Multiverse sequel with Spider-Man: No Way Home, but those unconfirmed reports have since been squashed by the “Chaos Walking” star, who said he had read the entire script and assured fans that the actors who formerly played Spider-Man would not be involved in the upcoming flick.

In an interview with Esquire, Tom assured fans, “No, no, they will not be appearing in this film. Unless they have hidden the most massive piece of information from me, which I think is too big of a secret for them to keep from me. But as of yet, no. It’ll be a continuation of the Spider-Man movies that we’ve been making.”

Andrew Garfield Creating Oscar Buzz

Despite the controversy that surrounding Andrew Garfield during his time playing Peter Parker, it's clear that the spell Sony cast on Garfield, leaving him blacklisted temporarily from the industry, has now worn off! The actor got back into the swing of things relatively quickly, appearing in a handful of films including Silence, The Eyes Of Tammy Faye, and Under The Silver Lake, to name a few.

Well, not only is he back at the top of his game, but Garfield is now setting off some major Oscar buzz! The actor has taken on the role of Jon in the upcoming film, Tick, Tick...Boom! which will be released onto Netflix this coming November. While the Oscar talk is just, well...talk, it appears as if Andrew might have a shot at receiving his very first Oscar nomination, proving that he's back and isn't going anywhere.

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