Tom Holland Reveals He’s Read a “Spider-Man 4” Script With Zendaya

Tom Holland revealed some major Spidey news when he said that he and his Spider-Man co-star Zendaya (also his real-life girlfriend) have read the Spider-Man 4 script a few weeks ago.

Speaking on the Rich Roll Podcast, Holland admitted that the script “needs work, but the writers are doing a great job.”

Spider-Man 4 will have big webs to fill—the last installment, Spider-Man: No Way Home, boasted not only Holland’s Peter Parker but also the return of previous Spideys played by Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire. It was a critical and commercial smash, with a bittersweet ending that required Peter to allow himself to be erased from the memories of the people he loves, including Zendaya’s MJ, as penance for all his multiverse meddling. A month ago, The Hollywood Reporter scooped that Destin Daniel Cretton, the director of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, was in talks to step in to direct Spider-Man 4. Jon Watts has directed the first three films.

Holland feels good about the direction the Spider-Man 4 script is headed. “I read it three weeks ago, and it really lit a fire in me. Zendaya and I sat down and read it together, and we at times were bouncing around the living room like, ‘This is a real movie worthy of the fans’ respect.’ But there’s a few things we need to figure out before we can get that really going, but it’s exciting,” Holland said.

Yet as always with a Marvel movie, there were larger considerations.

“One of the things to bear in mind with Marvel is that your film is a small cog in a large machine,” Holland told the Rich Roll podcast about making Spider-Man 4. “And that machine has got to keep running. And you need to make sure you can fit into that timeline at the right time to benefit the bigger picture. That’s one of the challenges we’re facing. The time in which we need to get that done is a tall order but definitely achievable with the fantastic people we have working on it now.”

Holland has made it clear that Spider-Man is near and dear to his heart, and to do a Spider-Man 4 after three critically and commercially successful films already, it would have to be for a story that really popped.

“I feel very protective over Spider-Man,” he told Collider. “I feel very, very lucky that we were able to work on a franchise that got better with each movie, that got more successful with each movie, which I think is really rare, and I want to protect his legacy. So, I won’t make another one for the sake of making another one. It will have to be worth the while of the character.”

For more on all things Spider-Man, check out these stories:

Will Spider-Man Swing Through “Venom: The Last Dance”?

Tom Holland Slings a Hopeful “Spider-Man 4” Update

Amazon’s “Spider-Man Noir” Series Taps “The Punisher” Showrunner Steve Lightfoot

irst “Madame Web” Trailer Reveals Dakota Johnson in Spider-Man Spinoff

Featured image: Tom Holland is Spider-Man and Zendaya is MJ in “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” Courtesy Sony Pictures.