Exclusive: Emma Stone And Bryce Dallas Howard Both Returning As Gwen Stacy In Beyond The Spider-Verse
We've exclusively learned that both Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard will reprise their separate roles as Gwen Stacy in Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.
If you loved Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse — including the use of live-action characters in the sequel — we’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is our trusted and proven sources tell us that both Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard will be reprising their respective roles as Gwen Stacy in the sequel, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, and they’ll be doing it in live-action. The bad news is our sources also tell us that Beyond the Spider-Verse will not be hitting theaters in 2024 as planned.
Click for spoilers from Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse
If you’ve seen Across the Spider-Verse, then you know that Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard won’t be playing the first live-action characters in the animated film series. In Across the Spider-Verse Donald Glover makes a cameo as an imprisoned Aaron Davis aka The Prowler, The Spot (Jason Schwartzman) has a brief exchange with Ms. Chen (Peggy Lu) from the Tom Hardy-led Venom films, and there are brief flashes from the Spider-Man films led by both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield. It seems likely Stone and Howard will likewise appear in cameos, as opposed to having more significant roles in the plot.
As for why Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse won’t be releasing next year as planned, we can’t say for sure. The most likely reason would seem to be the writers strike, as well as a possibly looming actors strike. Presumably, both Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard would want to show solidarity, and if any story changes are going to be made at all to the film, any writers going along with the strike would need to wait until it’s over to complete the work.
Superhero movie fans are no doubt aware that Emma Stone played Gwen Stacy in both 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man and the 2014 sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2. She meets a tragic fate in the latter film, mirroring that of her comic book counterpart.
However, while Emma Stone is no doubt better known in the role, Bryce Dallas Howard beat her by five years. Howard was the first actress to play Stacy in live-action in 2007’s Spider-Man 3. The third film in Sam Raimi‘s trilogy was a critical and commercial disappointment, but on the bright side, unlike Stone’s version of the character, Howard’s Stacy survives the events of her film.
Considering how Across the Spider-Verse unfolds, it makes sense we would see live-action versions of Gwen Stacy played by Emma Watson and Bryce Dallas Howard in Beyond the Spider-Verse. There’s a much stronger focus on Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) in Across the Spider-Verse than in the 2018 predecessor, and in fact, the first ten to fifteen minutes of the film take place in her corner of the multiverse, Earth-65.
