Spider-Man: No Way Home Star Tom Holland Said He Was “Saying Goodbye” to Character in Pivotal Aunt May Scene

Spider-Man: No Way Home hit theaters last month and it managed to pass $1 billion after only ten days, and it’s now the sixth-highest grossing movie at the domestic box office. Warning: Spoilers Ahead! The big draw of the film was the return of past Spider-Man actors, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. For the first time since the movie was released, Maguire and Garfield joined current Spider-Man star, Tom Holland, for an interview with Deadline‘s Pete Hammond. The dynamic trio talked about meeting for the first time and revealed what drew them to the project. During the film, Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) is killed, and the end of the film sees Peter visiting her grave. Hammond brought up this emotional moment, and Holland said that in a way, he was saying goodbye to his character. 

“Yeah, I mean it was emotional, there definitely was a sense for me as an actor that this was the last time that I could potentially don the suit so a lot of that emotion came from the act of saying goodbye, which is one of the biggest themes throughout this film,” Holland explained. “So you know, thankfully, I was really able to draw on my own experience and my own feelings in those moments, but this film also felt like a huge celebration…” 

He continued, “This movie really is a celebration of three generations of cinema, so at times we would be getting into these scenes that were incredibly emotional that, you know, they’re very taxing and I was so happy to be there that I had to go at it a different way and kind of go, ‘Wow look at my life, look what’s happened to me, I’m working with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, and we’re telling this story.’ And I would get emotional at kind of how proud I was of the situation that we were in, and that what we were doing and that I really believed in what we were doing  … It was tough, but you know anything hard is worthwhile.” 

During the chat, Holland also explained why it was “daunting” to film his first scene with the former Spider-Men.

“It was very daunting because we were a long way into shooting before you guys [Garfield and Maguire] showed up, you know we were maybe three months into principal photography, and the date of the other Spider-Mans are coming was etched on my calendar,” Holland explained.

“I realized I had nothing to be nervous about, but on our first at our first rehearsal, I had asked Jacob [Batalon] and Zendaya to come with me to just be there as like my support system,” the actor recalled. “Like, I’m gonna go meet these guys I’m really nervous about it, because we have to read the scene and I don’t know how this is gonna go because we’re all playing the same character and we all have to bring our own kind of heart and soul into this.”

“It was really strange and almost a little unfair how they had us put the suits on and then just jump around in front of a camera together like that was one of the most bizarre experiences of my life,” he concluded. “Again, Jacob and Zendaya were there for that to support me, but it was an amazing experience and from day one it was a roller coaster that i didn’t want to get off of.”

Spider-Man: No Way Home is now playing in theaters.