Shailene Woodley recalls ‘fun phone call’ cutting her Mary Jane role from Spider-Man

Shailene Woodley has revealed that she filmed three scenes as Mary Jane Watson for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but was told a year later that her character had been cut so she could be introduced in a planned third film that was never made.

The Divergent star was cast as Mary Jane Watson in 2013 and spent three days filming with Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker for the 2014 sequel. Her scenes were cut while the film was in production, with director Marc Webb saying he had decided to streamline the story around Peter and Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was the second of two films starring Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, after Webb’s 2012 reboot, which also starred Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy and Rhys Ifans as the villainous Lizard.

Sony had announced a third film, initially scheduled for 2016 and later moved to 2018, but it was never made.

During a career retrospective for the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s Conversations series, Woodley talked about the “fun phone call” in which she was told she was no longer in the film.

“I was cast as Mary Jane for Spider-Man, which was my dream because Spider-Man’s my favourite superhero. Mary Jane was my favourite character growing up,” she said. “So, when I got it, I was like, ‘This is so exciting.’”

She added that she had filmed “ three scenes together” with Garfield, but was told a year later that she had been dropped from the film.

“I was like, ‘What? What do you mean?’ And they were like, ‘We’ve introduced a lot of new characters in this last one, and we’re going to wait for whatever happens between Emma [Stone] and Andrew [Garfield],” Woodley said.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 follows Peter Parker struggling to balance his relationship with Gwen with his life as Spider-Man while battling the super-powered Electro (Jamie Foxx) and his former friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan), who becomes the Green Goblin. In the film, after Harry abducts Gwen and takes her to a clock tower, Peter defeats him but fails to save Gwen when she falls to her death.

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Woodley explained that the film’s team intended to “wait for [Gwen] to die and then we’ll introduce Mary Jane”. “Which made sense. But then they didn’t make that film,” Woodley said.

“But again, who knows what the truth is. I could have been terrible and they’re like, ‘We can’t do this,’” she joked.

Webb told The Hollywood Reporter in 2013 that he “made a creative decision to streamline the story and focus on Peter and Gwen and their relationship”, adding that Woodley was “an incredibly talented actress”.

Woodley also said at the time that she understood the decision, telling Entertainment Weekly: “Of course I’m bummed,” but adding that she was “a firm believer in everything happening for a specific reason” and understood “the need for holding off on introducing [Mary Jane] until the next film”.

In February 2015, Sony and Marvel Studios struck a deal to bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Sony retaining ownership and control of the film franchise while Marvel’s Kevin Feige joined as producer.

Andrew Garfield’s version of Peter Parker was dropped, and Tom Holland was cast in the role that June, making his debut in Captain America: Civil War before starring in Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2017.

Holland has since played Peter in three solo films, most recently Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which was released in July 2026 and sees Peter fighting crime full-time in a world that no longer remembers him.