Sam Raimi says he will not return to direct Spider-Man 4

According to Movieweb, Sam Raimi has said he is not interested in returning to direct Spider-Man 4 with Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.

Speaking with Screen Rant, Raimi said Maguire's Spider-Man and Dunst's Mary Jane "have gone elsewhere," pointing to the franchise moving on with Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland. He praised Holland's interpretation and said audiences are invested in that story, adding he wouldn't "be right for me to go back and try and resurrect my version of this story." Raimi also said he loves the franchise and "the producers that make it," and called Marvel Studios "better than ever" after working on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Raimi's unmade Spider-Man 4 is a long-running what-if: he had cast John Malkovich as Adrian Toomes and Anne Hathaway as Felicia Hardy, with a planned May 6, 2011 release, but in January 2010 he told Sony the film wouldn't be ready and the studio chose to reboot the series. The reboot eventually led to a deal with Marvel Studios and Tom Holland's Spider-Man, while Raimi moved on to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and has since put his name forward to direct a Batman movie for DC Studios.

Raimi said he felt he had "handed the torch off" after his three films. Marvel has already brought Tobey Maguire back in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and the actor is rumored to appear in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.

Key Topics

Culture, Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Marvel Studios, Sony Pictures