Sam Raimi would “love” a fourth ‘Spider-Man’ film with Tobey Maguire

The director of the original Spider-Man trilogy has spoken about the possibility of a fourth film starring Tobey Maguire as the titular webslinger.

Following Maguire’s introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home, there’s been a renewed interest from fans in continuing the story of Maguire’s version of Spider-Man.

Speaking about his interest in revisiting the character, Sam Raimi (who directed 2002’s Spider-Man and the following two sequels) told Rolling Stone he’d be up for it “if there was a great story there.”

“My love for the characters hasn’t diminished one iota,” he continued. “It would be the same things that would stop me now that stopped me then: ‘Does Tobey want to do it? Is there an emotional arc for him? Is there a great conflict for this character? And is there a worthy villain that fits into the theme of the piece?’ There’s a lot of questions that would have to be answered. If those could be answered, then I’d love to.”

Work had begun on a fourth movie with Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man before it was cancelled and rebooted with Andrew Garfield’s take on the character in 2012.

Explaining the cancellation in 2013, Raimi said: “It was simply that we had a deadline and I couldn’t get the story to work on a level that I wanted it to work. I was very unhappy with Spider-Man 3, and I wanted to make Spider-Man 4 to end on a very high note, the best Spider-Man of them all.

“But I couldn’t get the script together in time, due to my own failings, and I said to Sony, ‘I don’t want to make a movie that is less than great, so I think we shouldn’t make this picture. Go ahead with your reboot, which you’ve been planning anyway.’”

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Raimi also confirmed that there were plans to introduce Bruce Campbell as Mysterio alongside the big screen debut of Kraven The Hunter in Spider-Man 4.

Garfield, who also returned in No Way Home, has spoken about revisiting Spider-Man in the future but only “if it felt right.”

Raimi’s next film is Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness which is out this week (April 5) and seemingly picks up where Spider-Man: No Way Home left off.