Spider-Man: No Way Home required major plot changes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic causing delays within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
No Way Home was supposed to be released after next year’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, but when production on that film was delayed by COVID, it was decided the Spidey threequel would shoot first. Since the films of the MCU are dependent on one another, and because Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange plays a major role in No Way Home, this meant the film would need to undergo story changes. In fact, the script for No Way Home was being constantly rewritten throughout filming. "You could ask the director, 'What happens in act three?' And his response would be, 'I’m still trying to figure it out,'" Holland told GQ.
Holland also noted that several key actors from the Spider-Man franchise hadn’t signed on for the third film when the first day of shooting approached. "Some people were trying to figure out whether they wanted to do it, and we needed all of them or none," he said.
Elizabeth Olsen, who co-stars in the Doctor Strange sequel, revealed earlier this year that production on Multiverse of Madness was forced to shut down due to a rise in coronavirus cases in London. "Since the hospitals are overwhelmed here we can't go back to work until that calms down," she said during a guest appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
Doctor Strange 2 co-writer Michael Waldron later revealed that the shutdown allowed the Multiverse of Madness team to make the sequel scarier than originally written. "COVID just gave me and Sam [Raimi] more time to make it our own thing," he explained. "It’s cool, I’m glad that there was the chance to maybe push it in a slightly scarier direction, just because Sam does that so well."
Marvel just dropped the official, full-length trailer for No Way Home, which features many of Spider-Man's greatest villains -- including Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin, Alfred Molina's Doc Ock, Jamie Foxx's Electro, Thomas Haden Church's Sandman and Rhys Ifans' Lizard. Holland reflected on working with "all of the villains in the film," saying it was "surreal" to shoot scenes with iconic actors from past Spider-Man franchises.
Holland also teased No Way Home’s shocking action sequences, saying, "You're going to see a style of fighting in this film that you've never seen in the Spider-Man movies before."
Spider-Man: No Way Home hits theaters Dec. 17, while Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness arrives May 6, 2022.
Source: GQ