J.K. Simmons Addresses His Heartbreak After Spider-Man 4 Was Cancelled

There was once a time Sam Raimi was going to get to direct Spider-Man 4. The director essentially launched the world of modern superhero cinema with his beloved Spider-Man trilogy, and Sony wanted to keep the magic going. One thing led to another, however, and Raimi’s ideas were eventually scrapped. Instead, the studio opted to reboot the franchise by bringing on a new actor (Andrew Garfield) as Peter Parker and hiring a new cast and crew for the revitalized franchise.

JK Simmons appeared in all three of Raimi’s movies as longtime Spidey antagonist J. Jonah Jameson, and said during one recent red carpet event he was heartbroken after Sony ended up deciding to pull the plug on Raimi’s iteration of the franchise.

View on X

“When they moved on from there [Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy], it was heartbreaking,” the actor told a reporter with THR. “I thought ‘Oh well, that was fun,’ and I was glad I had the opportunity. When they came back a couple of years ago and said they wanted to revive that gasbag of a character, I was thrilled. It was just about adapting him to 2020 and really to me, he’s the same blowhard, just instead of running a newspaper he runs a media empire.”

Simmons is officially back in the saddle as Jameson thanks to a surprise post-credits sequence that was attached to the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home. Though he was seen only through a digital screen in that film, he’s expected to have a slightly larger role when Spider-Man: No Way Home rolls around next week.

“You know what, I think it’s a slightly different version,” Simmons previously told Josh Horowitz of his new character. “Certainly, from the creators of the current iteration of the story, it’s a very different character. To me, it’s a slightly different character. It’s the same blowhard; the same guy with less hair. Honestly, I kinda wish he had the same hair…The most important thing is that he’s still the same blowhard and he does have the same damn mustache and cigar, at least. As is appropriate for that character, he’s a little comic relief thing that gets sprinkled lightly into the movie.”

Spider-Man: No Way Home is set for release on December 17th. What other Spidey-family characters do you think will end up appearing in the upcoming feature? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!