You have to admire this new era of Tom Holland’s “Spider-Man” franchise, as the actor has been granted more of a creative say on the new films and wiggle-room to do other projects, which led him to convince the studio/producers to delay “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” so he could join the massive cast of Christopher Nolan’s upcoming Greek epic “The Odyssey.” While that months-long delay might be seen as some as an annoyance for Sony Pictures/Marvel Studios, as Holland tells it, it gave them enough time to “almost save” the film, or otherwise they likely would not have been able to land director Destin Daniel Cretton (“Wonder Man,” “Shang-Chi & The Legend of the Ten Rings”).
Holland revealed these behind-the-scenes details during a recent interview with GQ Magazine to promote “The Odyssey,” suggesting those delays gave them an extra six months to work on the script and allowed them to hire Cretton (who also helped on reworking the movie’s script alongside a mysterious screenwriter named “Justin,” leading to speculation Holland’s mention on Good Hang with Amy Poehler podcast he could be talking about “Challengers” screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, but is being backed up by the folks over at Nexus Point News), who had been originally attached to helm “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty,” before that movie was retooled into “Avengers: Doomsday.” All while boasting in the end, that they’ve “made the best version of any ‘Spider-Man’ movie.”
READ MORE: June Movie Preview: ‘Toy Story 5,’ ‘Supergirl,’ Spielberg’s‘ Disclosure Day,’ and More
“‘The Odyssey’ almost saved ‘Spider-Man’ because we wouldn’t have had Destin [Daniel Cretton]. He wouldn’t have been ready to make the movie when we were ready to go. We wouldn’t have had the six-month period to develop the script with Destin to get it to a place where it is now,” Holland told GQ how the two productions benefited each other in the end. “I truly believe that we’ve made the best version of any ‘Spider-Man’ movie going. So while it was a tough pill to swallow for Sony, I think in hindsight, they’re very grateful that it happened. So while it was a tough pill to swallow for Sony, I think in hindsight, they’re very grateful that it happened.”
UPDATE: There is confirmation coming from The Wrap, as the outlet adds that Kuritzeks (“Queer,” “Challengers”) will get credit on the final script and would suggest his contributions were much more than basic scene reworking or script doctoring. Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers had originally been announced as the sole writers on the fourth installment after working on the previous Holland era films.
That power move from Holland didn’t stop at getting to make a Nolan film; he started pressuring Marvel/Sony to take cues from how Nolan makes films and to answer any question posed to him about the production.
“I think coming from the Marvel space, and I think this will upset Marvel a little bit, his level of preparation is unlike anything I’ve ever seen,” Holland said. “There’s not a single question you can ask him that he can’t answer immediately.”
That lesson carried over to “Spider-Man,” where Holland said he used his newfound leverage to push for a more fully developed movie before cameras rolled, rather than figuring out scenes on the day.
“I was really able to lay down the law and say, ‘We are not going to come to set and figure it out,’” he said. “‘We need to know why we are making this movie beyond the fact that it’s ‘Spider-Man 4’ and they make loads of money, and we’re going to just have a big summer. Why are we making this movie?’”
Holland credited Destin Daniel Cretton with helping shape that approach, while also saying he regularly brought Nolan’s process into his conversations with the studio and producers Amy Pascal and Rachel O’Connor.
“Destin was super instrumental in that,” Holland said. “But it was just really great to constantly be calling up the studio and Amy and Rachel, who I love, and be like, ‘Well, Chris is doing it this way. This is how I think we should be doing it.’”
Lastly, it sounds like the actor is also very serious about passing down the franchise role to someone else in the next 6-7 years. “I think the point of it (saying he’d want to hang up the part by 30) is that I would love to pass the baton on, and I haven’t achieved that yet. It’s definitely something that we talk about a lot at the studio. So maybe I need to change the quote to 37.” There has been some talk from Holland about wanting to see a live-action Miles Morales take the reins from Peter Parker.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, both of Holland’s films are highly anticipated, dropping in the same month, with “The Odyssey” arriving first in theaters on July 17 and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” coming out on July 31. We cannot wait to see how those movies pan out and how the general audience will react to them.
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://theplaylist.net/tom-holland-the-odyssey-spider-man-brand-new-day-20260603/&media=https://cdn.theplaylist.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/03095821/TOM-HOLLAND_TALKS_MAKING-SPIDER-MAN_BRAND-NEW-DAY_MARVEL-SONY_MCU_-1.jpg&description=Tom Holland believes that delaying the 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' shoot to make 'The Odyssey' may have "almost saved" the sequel.){kind=link}