For many years, Andrew Garfield insisted The Amazing Spider-Man 3 was officially dead and buried. Then No Way Home came along and everyone began speculating again. Now, in an appearance on The Playlist’s The Discourse podcast, published August 3, 2026, Garfield finally gave in and said he’d actually be open to returning as Peter Parker. But there’s one condition, of course – only if the project broke completely from the standard superhero formula. Asked what a return would look like, he admitted, “I don’t know. I really don’t know. I would need it to be very, very odd,” floating the idea of something closer to a Spider-Man road movie than a conventional sequel. He’s probably thinking along the lines of Deadpool & Wolverine, right?
Of course, an Amazing Spider-Man 3, if there was one, is a long way from being greenlit. Garfield has said versions of “no” before — including a flat “it’s not happening,” in an earlier interview. But his new comments are enough to revive one of the strangest ideas Sony ever seriously floated for the franchise: bringing Gwen Stacy back from the dead as Carnage.
Why Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man Trilogy Never Happened
Many fans believe that Andrew Garfield’s The Amazing Spider-Man journey ended prematurely, especially considering that Toby Maguire’s Spider-Man was a trilogy and Tom Holland’s iteration of Spider-Man got a quadrilogy. Fans were left sorely lacking when Andrew Garfield’s rendition turned out to be only a duology.
Sony hadn’t planned on his franchise ending there, however, and had some ideas for a further instalment that would have kept the franchise going a while longer.
The Amazing Spider-Man was a commercial success and was viewed in an overwhelmingly positive light by die-hard fans; however, the rest of the fan base received the duology with a mixed reaction. Before deciding to reboot the franchise once again and bring in the Uncharted actor, Tom Holland’s iteration of Spider-Man, Sony considered many ideas to attempt to keep Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man going, one of which was to have Gwen Stacy return in a rather unexpected turn of events – as Carnage.
The Gwen Stacy Carnage Plot, Explained
In general, Andrew Garfield’s franchise follows comic source material with comparable accuracy to the latest three movies’ director, Sam Raimi’s, level of attention to detail. While Raimi’s version is said to be more inspired by the Stan Lee and Steve Ditko era of Spider-Man, Marc Webb’s input with Garfield’s was inspired more by Brian Michael Bendis’ Ultimate Spider-Man comics as well as the more mainstream comics of the 1970s, by Gerry Conway and John Romita Sr.
The possible return of Gwen Stacy as Carnage has already been depicted in the comics and was what inspired Sony’s vision for this would-be instalment. While The Amazing Spider-Man 2 loosely adapted the Death of Gwen Stacy story from the Conway Era, it also had elements from the Ultimate era with Electro and the Rhino. The idea to bring Gwen back through the resurrection of the villainous Carnage was also inspired by the Ultimate Spider-Man comics.
In the comics, Gwen was murdered by Carnage and in experimental efforts to bring back Carnage, she was accidentally cloned. Although a clone, she had all of her memories up to the moment she died. While she was originally symbiotically bonded with Carnage, in the comics, she is eventually able to separate herself from it, and according to Tony Stark, was indistinguishable from the original Gwen, who had passed on.
What Gwen Stacy’s Return Would Have Meant for Peter Parker
This concept was imagined to form the basis for the next The Amazing Spider-Man, possibly having her battle Garfield’s Spider-Man as Carnage before she can return to normal or be defeated. With the already incredible chemistry that exists between Garfield and Gwen Stacy actress Emma Stone, the battle and decisions made would be heart-wrenching and thrilling.
After Gwen dies in the second movie, Peter is already overwhelmed by grief and nearly doesn’t continue to fight for justice. Who could even imagine what it would do to him to not only get her back but then wrestle with the morality of having to kill her again to protect the innocents she is endangering? The whole concept is honestly a great one, and it’s a real shame that Sony has never made this sequel.
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Would you like to see Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy return as Carnage in The Amazing Spider-Man 3?
