In no doubt knocking the wind out of a greedy Hollywood executives’ sails, original Spider-Man trilogy actress Kirsten Dunst has admitted that while demand for it is growing, she personally sees absolutely zero reason to produce a fourth entry in the series.
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The first actress to ever portray Mary-Jane Watson in a live-action production offered her opinion on a potential return to the role of the wall-crawler’s iconic redheaded love interest during a recent interview given to IndieWire‘s Kate Erbland in promotion of her appearance in director Alex Garland’s new film, Civil War.
Amidst a discussion of her career future, Dunst was asked by Erbland, “Another possibility that keeps getting floated is you returning to Spider-Man in some way, and I’ve read a lot of your recent interviews when the topic is mentioned, and I have to ask: Do you want to do another Spider-Man movie, because I honestly can’t tell?”, to which the actress laughed, “You’re so funny. I can’t tell either!”
Adding, “Depends. It would depend,” the actress then questioned, “I don’t know. Honestly, do we need it?”
Met with confusion by Erbland, who inquired in return, “What do we need? Do we need anything?”, Dunst clarified, “I don’t think we need [Spider-Man 4].”
“I don’t know,” she further opined to her host. “It was so long ago. I just don’t know how they would, what the story would be. I don’t know. It seems like … I don’t know!”
Drawing her thoughts on the matter to a close, Dunst ultimately asserted, “It would really depend on the script, and also, I don’t know, you’re really putting yourself out there in a way that … let’s maybe leave things when they were good. You know what I mean?”
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As noted by Erbland, this is not the first time Dunst has shown what could be considered ‘indifference’ towards the prospect of reprising her role as Mary-Jane.
Asked during a March 2024 interview with Marie Claire whether she would ever do not just another Spider-Man film, but another superhero movie at all, the actress directly admitted, “Yes, because you get paid a lot of money, and I have two children, and I support my mother.”
Luckily for Dunst, at current, it does not look like any serious moves have been made regarding a potential Spider-Man 4.
Speaking to the recent rumors of its development to CBR’s Kevin Polowy during the recent WonderCon 2024, series director Sam Raimi affirmed, “Well, I haven’t heard about that yet. I did read that, but I’m not actually working on it yet.”
“I mean, Marvel and Columbia are so successful with current Spider-Man [movies], and the track there, and I don’t know that they’re going to go back to me, and say, ‘Well, folks, we can also tell that story!’,” he continued. “I’m not sure, but I love all the new Spider-Man movies. I loved Spider-Man: No Way Home. It was really, super powerful seeing Tobey [Maguire] again in it.”
“I haven’t talked to Tobey about it, but maybe Marvel has, or Columbia Pictures,” he concluded. “But, I just worked with Marvel on a movie called Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. So, I’m on great terms with them. I’m sure I would hear about it if it was in the works. I think so. I don’t know.”
Notably, the rumor mill surrounding a potential Spider-Man 4 was first truly ignited on March 1st, courtesy of actor Thomas Haden Church, who played Sandman in both Spider-Man 3 and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Reflecting on his potential future as the web-head’s alternating-nemesis-slash-ally during a March 2024 interview with Comicbook.com‘s Jamie Jarek, Church declared, “You know, I think Sam is gonna do another Spider-Man with Tobey [Maguire], and that’s the one that … They had an option for me to do Spiderman 4 when there was going to be a Spiderman 4. They had an option on me to come back. So if it happens, that would be fantastic. I’m getting a little old.”
