Shailene Woodley reflects on her scrapped Mary Jane role in Spider-Man

Shailene Woodley almost debuted as Mary Jane opposite Andrew Garfield's titular web-slinger in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

The Fault in Our Stars actress opened up about her 'dream' role in a recent interview as part of SAG-AFTRA Foundation Conversations that never came to fruition on the big screen. Woodley revealed that she was cast as Mary Jane, opposite Garfield in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which was released in theatres in 2014. However, a year after filming, the actress discovered her role had been cut from the film.

Mary Jane is Peter Parker's primary love interest in the comic books, played by Kirsten Dunst opposite Tobey Maguire in Sam Raimi's Trilogy. Zendaya plays MJ opposite Tom Holland's superhero in the MCU, which pays a homage to the original character.

What did Shailene Woodley reveal about her scrapped Spider-Man role?

A shot from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Image via YouTube/Sony Pictures Entertainment)

Shailene Woodley revealed that she was cast as Mary Jane in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. The actress revealed that it was a 'dream' role since Mary Jane had been her favorite character growing up. While Woodley described the filming experience as 'exciting,' she was disappointed when her role was cut from the film:

“[There were] like three scenes together, me and Andrew Garfield. And then like a year later, they were like, ‘So, you’re not in the movie anymore.’ And I was like, ‘What? What do you mean?’''

Fans will remember that Marc Webb's franchise introduced Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, Peter Parker's girlfriend in the movies, who eventually died after falling from a clock tower during Peter Parker's battle with the Green Goblin.

Shailene Woodley revealed that the creators wanted to take their sweet time before introducing Mary Jane, giving a proper send-off to Stone's Gwen Stacy:

''And they’re 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].' Let’s wait for [Gwen Stacy] to die and then we’ll introduce Mary Jane.’ Which made sense. But then they didn’t make that film.”

Why was Mary Jane axed from The Amazing Spider-Man 2?

A shot of Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy (Image via YouTube/Sony Pictures Entertainment)

Shailene Woodley's comments suggest that the creators planned on introducing Mary Jane in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 before the third film, which was eventually canceled.

Since Stone's Gwen Stacy served as a primary love interest for Garfield's Peter Parker, Woodley's Mary Jane role was likely axed from the movie. In a 2014 interview with Variety, producer Matt Tolmach revealed that the creators had ''a 148-page script'' for a 2-hour movie, which made them realize that ''we bit off more story than we could tell'' and Mary Jane is ''not going to be in this movie.”

While Webb had plans to cap off his franchise with a third movie, it was canceled after Garfield's second entry failed to meet Sony's high financial expectations. Its disappointing box office run led Sony to scrap Webb's franchise altogether in favor of a landmark deal with the MCU, which led to a younger Spider-Man, played by Tom Holland.

Despite mixed reactions to The Amazing Spider-Man and its sequel and the eventual cancelation of the third film, Garfield reprised his character in Holland's Spider-Man: No Way Home, alongside Maguire. Garfield's return to the role was received warmly and the reunion was a treat for all fans.