Andrew Garfield Says He Has Nothing to Do With 'The Amazing Spider-Man 4'

Uh oh. There's trouble in Spideyville. Back in June, Sony scheduled a second and third sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man, slotting The Amazing Spider-Man 4 for May 4, 2018. The popular explanation for a fourth installment was that the story director Marc Webb was trying to tell in his Spider-Man movies needed an extra movie to properly tell it. Then in November, news broke that Sony was exploring ways to build its own cinematic universe around Spider-Man, with the four Amazing Spider-Man movies serving as its core.

One tiny problem ...

It seems that no one checked with Webb and Spider-Man himself, Andrew Garfield.

Yahoo! Movies UK chatted with Webb and Garfield about the future of the Amazing Spider-Man franchise, with Webb saying, "We did think about these movies from the very beginning as a series of movies. ... Really a trilogy to be totally frank."

Um, a trilogy only has three movies, right?

It also didn't help that Garfield added: "I mean I’m under contract for another one after this … as far as a fourth one? That’s not anything to do with me."

If Garfield and Webb opt out of the franchise, what does Sony do? How do you build a universe around a franchise that loses its founding director and star? We've already seen Spider-Man recast once (and almost another time when Jake Gyllenhaal almost replaced Tobey Maguire) — it's not something that can't be done, I just don't know if Sony wants to do it again.

There's always a chance that Garfield and Webb are just positioning themselves for a salary battle down the road. Honestly though, does Garfield really want to still be appearing on the big screen as Spider-Man when he's 34? If Garfield says he's only on board for three Amazing Spider-Man movies, I'm inclined to believe him.

If Webb's only planning a trilogy, it would explain why we're seeing so many villains in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The recent trailer revealed Electro, the Rhino and the Green Goblin in addition to the Vulture's wings and Doc Ock's arms. We know that Norman Osborn is around too and that the Lizard is still alive. If Sony had to, they could pull together the Sinister Six by The Amazing Spider-Man 3. That's one less movie of box office dollars though ...