ANDREW GARFIELD EXPLAINS WHY HE HASN’T CONGRATULATED TOM HOLLAND

Andrew Garfield has not congratulated Tom Holland on the success of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, but his silence is far less dramatic than it might sound. The reason is quite simple: Garfield has not seen the film yet. The actor says he wants to experience his former co-star’s performance for himself before sending a congratulatory message that actually means something, rather than simply reacting to impressive box-office figures. “I don't want to be disingenuous,” Garfield told Variety. “A movie making money and people going to see it is an incredible thing, but I will reach out to him once I've seen Brand New Day, which I'm very excited to see.” For Garfield, the fact that a movie makes a great deal of money and attracts huge audiences is certainly worth celebrating, but what matters more to him is the film itself and Holland’s work as an actor.

Garfield has not watched The Odyssey either, the other major film starring Holland this summer. He said he plans to message his former co-star after actually seeing what Holland has done on screen. The response is consistent with the way Garfield has approached his career for years: he tends to speak seriously about acting and rarely offers praise simply for the sake of politeness. In his view, a congratulatory message to a fellow actor does not necessarily have to arrive the moment box-office figures are updated. He would rather base his words on the work itself, particularly the performance, than on the amount of money a movie has made.

While Garfield has yet to see either film, Tom Holland is experiencing an especially successful period in his career. Spider-Man: Brand New Day has reportedly earned around $2.34 billion worldwide, according to The Numbers, while The Odyssey has brought in approximately $1.56 billion. Christopher Nolan’s epic casts Holland as Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, in a story set after the Trojan War. Combined, the two films have generated roughly $3.9 billion at the global box office, demonstrating that Holland is simultaneously occupying two very different corners of the movie business: the superhero blockbuster and the adult historical epic. Although box-office rankings can shift depending on the timing and the source of the figures, the scale of the two films’ success is difficult to ignore.

Yet it is the unique relationship between Garfield and Holland that makes the actor’s lack of a congratulatory message more noteworthy than it otherwise might be. The two previously played Peter Parker in the same film when Spider-Man: No Way Home was released in 2021. Garfield and Tobey Maguire returned as the versions of Spider-Man they had played in earlier films, joining Holland to create one of the most anticipated reunions in superhero cinema. Garfield had portrayed Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, while Maguire had become synonymous with the character through Sam Raimi’s trilogy. Their appearance transformed No Way Home into a major cultural event while creating a unique connection among three actors who had portrayed the same character in different eras.

That history is also why Garfield’s comments about Marvel tend to receive more scrutiny. When asked about the possibility of returning in Avengers: Doomsday, the actor once again denied being involved. “I'm not in Doomsday,” he said. “You'll find out, I suppose, one way or another.” On paper, the answer is fairly straightforward. But after what happened before Spider-Man: No Way Home, audiences have a reason not to take every denial from Garfield at face value. Before the 2021 film was released, Garfield repeatedly rejected reports that he would appear, only to ultimately stand alongside Holland and Maguire on screen. Marvel’s secrecy worked so effectively that a simple “no” from Garfield now almost always comes with an unofficial asterisk in the minds of fans.

At present, Garfield is not included on the officially announced cast list for Avengers: Doomsday, and there is no reliable information confirming that he will appear in the film. The movie is scheduled for release on December 18, 2026, and is expected to bring together familiar faces from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, along with the Fantastic Four and returning actors from Fox’s X-Men films. Given the multiverse storyline, the possibility of a surprise appearance by a returning character remains something audiences can speculate about, but there is currently no evidence that Garfield has signed on for a cameo. In other words, the fans’ suspicion is based more on the precedent set by No Way Home than on any new confirmation.

If the Spider-Man story shows how Garfield continues to be pulled back toward one of the most recognizable roles of his career, the project he is currently promoting reveals a very different side of the actor. In The Uprising, directed by Paul Greengrass, Garfield plays a farmer who loses a loved one to plague before becoming involved in leading the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 in England. The historical uprising is often discussed in connection with legends that later contributed to the Robin Hood mythology, but the film focuses more heavily on grief, social injustice and the rebellion of people pushed to their limits. For Garfield, this is not simply another period role. It is a project that touches on deeply personal emotions.

In a conversation with E! News, Garfield connected the film to the grief he has carried since his mother’s death. His mother, Lynn Garfield, died in 2019 after battling pancreatic cancer. Speaking about The Uprising, Garfield said the film gave him a way to express “pain, a woundedness, a grief,” while also reaching toward “a more just world.” He also spoke about his hope that people experiencing loss might recognize that they are not alone in their grief. “It’s their grief that binds them to their community, that everyone knows grief,” Garfield said. “It’s part of living, and that we find each other in our grief. We find each other in our woundedness.”

That loss has become a recurring theme in Garfield’s life and career. When he starred alongside Florence Pugh in We Live in Time, the story of a couple confronting serious illness and the possibility of losing the person they love resonated with him in a particularly personal way. Garfield once said, “I think art heals,” explaining that he felt fortunate that his work gave him a place to process his own pain and grief. Earlier, during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he spoke about his mother from a similarly personal perspective: “This is all the unexpressed love, the grief that will remain with us until we pass because we never get enough time with each other.” For Garfield, grief is not necessarily something that has to be erased. He sees it as part of the love that remains for someone who has died.

The way Garfield speaks about loss may help explain why he has so often chosen emotionally demanding roles rather than relying solely on the appeal of a blockbuster star. Before becoming Spider-Man, he attracted attention in The Social Network, playing Eduardo Saverin, and continued taking on projects with very different acting demands. Hacksaw Ridge earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, while Silence from Martin Scorsese demonstrated just how seriously Garfield was willing to approach a role. To prepare for his part as a priest in Silence, he studied Catholicism, worked with a Jesuit priest and undertook spiritual exercises. Garfield later revealed that he had also abstained from sex for six months and fasted while preparing for the character.

Garfield’s repeated return to stories about love, faith, grief and human vulnerability has given his career a direction that is notably different from the image associated with Spider-Man. Playing Peter Parker made him a global star, but he has never allowed the character to completely define him. After the two The Amazing Spider-Man films, Garfield continued pursuing independent projects and emotionally complex roles. He later played composer Jonathan Larson in tick, tick... BOOM!, directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, and his performance earned him another Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. The role also became a way for him to connect with the grief surrounding his mother’s death, as the story of an artist struggling with the feeling that time is running out carried a powerful resonance with Garfield’s own experiences.

Garfield’s private life has also attracted considerable public interest, although he has generally not been someone who deliberately turns his relationships into part of his media image. His most famous romance was with Emma Stone, his co-star in The Amazing Spider-Man. The two began dating while working on the film and quickly became one of Hollywood’s most beloved couples. Their relationship eventually ended, but the two continued to speak of each other with respect. Stone later married Dave McCary and started a family of her own, while Garfield continued to keep his personal life relatively private. In the years that followed, he was linked to several other women, but he rarely offered detailed public statements about his romantic life.

Garfield also dated model Alyssa Miller, although their relationship did not last. When speaking about relationships, he has taken an approach that differs from the image of a Hollywood star desperately trying to build a conventional family life. In a previous conversation, Garfield said he had tried to free himself from the social pressure to have children by a certain age. He acknowledged feeling some of that pressure himself, but wanted to accept the possibility that his life might follow a different path. “Life is in charge. We'll see. We'll see what happens,” he once said. That sentiment fits with the image of an actor who has generally been careful when discussing his personal future, particularly when questions about marriage and children are repeatedly attached to his name.

In reality, Garfield appears increasingly interested in living according to choices that carry personal meaning rather than following a predetermined template. During a conversation with Ryan Reynolds for Variety’s Actors on Actors, Garfield spoke about feeling a greater urgency to live fully after realizing how short life on this planet actually is. He said he now wants to pursue things “that speak to my soul.” That outlook also helps explain his career choices in recent years: he remains capable of appearing in major productions, but he continues to seek stories that allow him to explore complex psychology and human questions.

For that reason, Garfield’s decision not to congratulate Holland does not appear to reflect any tension between the two men. If anything, his answer suggests a particular kind of respect for his younger former co-star. Holland took over the role of Spider-Man after Garfield, but rather than becoming rivals, the two eventually shared the screen in one of the most iconic superhero films of recent years. Garfield understands the weight of playing Peter Parker and the pressure that comes with the role, which makes his desire to watch Brand New Day before commenting on Holland’s performance understandable as a matter of professional seriousness.

At the same time, the story demonstrates how long Spider-Man’s shadow remains over Garfield. Although he left the role years ago, he continues to be asked about the possibility of returning, particularly after his appearance in No Way Home. Fans may continue speculating about Avengers: Doomsday, but for now the only confirmed position is Garfield’s own statement that he is not involved. Meanwhile, his attention is focused on The Uprising, a project that allows him to explore themes closer to his personal concerns: loss, injustice, resistance and the desire for a more just world.

Ultimately, the story between Garfield and Holland is probably not about a congratulatory message that was forgotten. It reflects two different stages in the careers of actors who once wore the Spider-Man suit. Holland is enjoying an exceptionally strong commercial period, with two major films each reaching billions of dollars at the global box office. Garfield, meanwhile, appears increasingly drawn to roles that allow him to explore deeper questions about human experience. He has not seen Brand New Day, so he does not want to offer praise simply because the film is successful. And when he finally sits down to watch Holland’s latest performance, the message he sends to his former co-star will likely say more about the Peter Parker Holland brought to the screen than about the enormous numbers appearing on the box-office charts.