Tom Holland to return for another 'Spider-Man' trilogy after 'No Way Home'

It seems like the upcoming film 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' will not be actor Tom Holland`s last outing as Marvel's neighbourhood web-slinger. According to Variety, longtime 'Spider-Man' producer Amy Pascal has stated that Holland is expected to return as Spider-Man for at least three more movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

"This is not the last movie that we are going to make with Marvel -- [this is not] the last Spider-Man movie," she told movie ticketing site Fandango on Monday.

Pascal added, "We are getting ready to make the next Spider-Man movie with Tom Holland and Marvel, it just isn`t part of... we're thinking of this as three films, and now we're going to go onto the next three. This is not the last of our MCU movies." Pascal's comments are the latest wrinkle in the ongoing saga of Sony and Marvel's partnership with Spider-Man on screen. Marvel has licensed Spider-Man movie rights to Sony for nearly two decades, an agreement the two companies hammered out before Disney acquired the comic book empire in 2009. As the chair of Sony Pictures, Pascal oversaw two iterations of 'Spider-Man' movies, first starring Tobey Maguire in the 2000s, and then Andrew Garfield in the early 2010s.

Those movies, however, could not be a part of Disney's Marvel Cinematic Universe until 2015, when Sony partnered with Disney to allow Tom Holland to take over the role and appear in Sony's 'Spider-Man' movies produced by Pascal and Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige. That also meant Holland's Spidey could appear in several films produced and released solely by Disney's Marvel Studios, from 2016's 'Captain America: Civil War' through 2019's 'Avengers: Endgame'. 

In 2019, however, Sony and Disney's Marvel Studios briefly split after the release of 'Spider-Man: Far From Home', putting Spider-Man's future within the Disney-owned MCU in jeopardy. Months later, after widespread fan protests and a behind-the-scenes intervention by Holland, the studio's repaired the relationship, with Disney taking home more of the profits and shouldering more of the costs, ensuring Peter Parker would remain within the MCU.

Neither that deal nor Pascal's recent comments resolve whether Holland could also appear in Sony`s movies that headline other Marvel characters, like 'Venom' with Tom Hardy and the upcoming 'Morbius' with Jared Leto and 'Kraven the Hunter' with Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Filmmaker Jon Watts returned for `No Way Home' after previously directing 2017's 'Homecoming' and 2019's 'Far From Home'. The newest instalment picks up once Spider-Man's identity as Peter Parker has been revealed to the world. Peter turns to Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), who casts a spell to make everyone forget he's Spidey, but instead the enchantment breaks open the multiverse and bring in 'Spider-Man' villains from alternate realities.

Holland, who has already spent six years as 'Spider-Man' across three standalone movies and several Avengers mashups, has recently expressed apprehension about continuing to play the character in future instalments.

Ahead of 'No Way Home', which debuts in India on December 16, he told a news outlet, "I have to take Peter Parker into account as well because he is an important part of my life. If I`m playing Spider-Man after I'm 30, I've done something wrong." In the same interview, Pascal said she spoke with Holland about doing "like, 100 more" movies. "I'm never going to make Spider-Man movies without him. Are you kidding me?" she said, as per Variety.