Original ‘Spider-Man’ Trilogy Director Addresses Rumors of a Fourth Installment

For the better part of 20 years, the internet has been buzzing with rumors of Sam Raimi’s fourth Spider-Man movie. At WonderCon last week, Raimi revealed to CBR whether there was any truth to a proposed fourth installment of his original series.

Raimi directed the first three Spider-Man movies, which starred Tobey Maguire in the title role. Raimi planned to make a fourth entry immediately after 2007’s ill-received Spider-Man 3, but eventually, those plans were scuttled in favor of rebooting the series with Andrew Garfield as the eponymous crusader. In 2017, the series was rebooted yet again, this time with Tom Holland.

Talk of a belated sequel went into overdrive after the release of 2021’s Spider-Man: No Way Home. That entry—the third in Marvel and Sony’s web-slinger opus—called back Maguire and Garfield, revealing that Marvel’s many multiverses likewise contain many different Spider-Men.

Though many saw the twist as an opportunity for another entry in Raimi’s storyline, the director isn’t so sure that’ll come to fruition.

“Well, I haven’t heard about that yet. I did read that, but I’m not actually working on it yet,” Raimi said cryptically.

He continued: “I mean, Marvel and Columbia are so successful with current Spider-Man [movies]…I don’t know that they’re going to go back to me, and say, ‘Well, folks, we can also tell that story!’”

Raimi added, “I love all the new Spider-Man movies. I loved Spider-Man: No Way Home. It was really, super powerful seeing Tobey again in it.”

The director has previously expressed an openness about returning to his Spider-Man universe, but he’s waiting to hear more from the people in charge. “I haven’t talked to Tobey about [a fourth movie with me], but maybe Marvel has or Columbia Pictures,” Raimi teased.

“I just worked with Marvel on a movie called Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So, I’m on great terms with them. I’m sure I would hear about it if it was in the works,” he mused.

After the 2022 release of Multiverse of Madness, Raimi told Comic Book that he was more than willing to continue Maguire’s Spider-Man arc. “I didn’t think it was possible, but after jumping back in with the multiverse, I realized that anything is possible now so I’m completely open to it,” the director said.

“I’ve come to realize after making Doctor Strange that anything is possible, really anything in the Marvel universe, any team-ups,” Raimi continued. “I love Tobey. I love Kirsten Dunst. I think all things are possible. I don’t really have a story or a plan. I don’t know if Marvel would be interested in that right now. I don’t know what their thoughts are about that. I haven’t really pursued that. But it sounds beautiful.”

“I haven’t heard about that yet”: Sam Raimi tells CBR’s @djkevlar that fans shouldn’t take those Spider-Man 4/Tobey Maguire rumors too seriously. pic.twitter.com/qbvrzKmAt0

— CBR (@CBR) April 1, 2024