Shailene Woodley was all set to play Mary Jane Watson in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, until director Marc Webb decided to completely cut the character out of the film. The plan was to have the actress show up briefly in the sequel, and then have a larger role in the third instalment. After she was removed though, rumors spread of the role being recast for Spidey’s third outing.
In a recent interview with Total Film, Woodley was once again asked about her potential involvement in the franchise and she said that not only does she not know if she’ll appear in The Amazing Spider-Man 3, but she’s not even sure if she wants the part anymore.
While unfortunate, Woodley’s remarks are totally understandable. Having large roles in two major franchises (the other one being Divergent) would be a difficult undertaking for a young actress. Or any actress for that matter. Not only that, but with two Divergent sequels currently in the works, she likely wouldn’t even have time to do both the YA sensation and Sony’s superhero franchise.
Despite the fact that I think Shailene Woodley is a tremendous actress, I’d rather see the role of Mary Jane be recast. It’s not that I don’t want to see Woodley lend her talents to Webb’s film, I’d love to, I just think that she’d be stretching herself too thin and would prefer to just have her focus on the Divergent franchise and on improving the two sequels that are currently being planned.
If you’re interested, you can check out what Woodley has to say in the video below. Then, head on down to the comments section and let us know if you’d like to see her play Mary Jane Watson in The Amazing Spider-Man 3.