Alden Ehrenreich nearly wore the webs before Andrew Garfield — then hit a snag
Alden Ehrenreich nearly donned the Spider-Man suit ahead of Andrew Garfield — only to be tripped up by one big hitch.
If you ever fancied a world where Alden Ehrenreich ended up as Spider-Man instead of Andrew Garfield, well, it very nearly happened. Yes, Ehrenreich—now known for playing young Han Solo and set to show up in Ironheart—once had a close(ish) brush with that red and blue spandex. But here’s the twist: he didn’t especially want it, and his audition was, by his own account, not exactly one for the history books.
Ehrenreich’s Spider-Man audition took place when he was just 21 or 22, in the late 2000s.
The Near Miss
On Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, Ehrenreich laid out the rather humbling tale. Despite being courted for one of the most coveted superhero roles out there, he felt an utter lack of enthusiasm. At the time, Spider-Man still meant Tobey Maguire to just about everyone, and this next reboot felt more like déjà vu than destiny. Ehrenreich admitted he only turned up to audition because, frankly, you sort of have to say yes when Spider-Man is on the table—even if you’re not dying to do it.
He also made no bones about how unprepared he was. Picture the scene: a dinner table, ten actors locked in dramatic combat with their dialogue, and Ehrenreich—aged about 21 or 22—still very much on book, lines spottily memorised. The rest of the hopefuls looked like they’d already filmed the thing. He reckoned that was probably the moment it all went belly-up for him, admitting he just wasn’t on the right wavelength for Peter Parker and, crucially, he didn’t actually want the job any more than the job seemed to want him.
On the podcast, Ehrenreich was frank: “In that moment, I really didn’t want to do it, to be honest. I think it was also where I was at internally. Clearly, they created something that breathed new life into it, but all that existed at that time [was Tobey Maguire]. Now we’re in this moment where 18 people have played Spider-Man, but to me, [it] was the same story. I felt like I had to audition for it.”
The Garfield Encounter
There was an only-in-Hollywood passing moment worth noting. As Ehrenreich was departing his audition, he bumped straight into Andrew Garfield on the way in. Flash forward a bit, and Garfield walks out with the part—probably not something Ehrenreich lost sleep over, judging by how much he rates Garfield’s talent. In fact, Ehrenreich was more than happy to admit Garfield’s the business when it comes to the acting stakes, sure he would’ve landed the gig regardless of anyone else on the shortlist.
Garfield wasn’t Spider-Man forever, of course. After his four-year stint swinging through New York, the mantle passed to Tom Holland in 2016, and the web-shooter baton went on yet again.
But don’t worry about Ehrenreich missing out on fictional heroics. He ended up back in the Marvel fold—this time on the TV side. He’s playing Ezekiel Stane, the son of Iron Man villain Obadiah Stane, in Ironheart. So, he’s got his own corner of the MCU… just not the one with all the arachnids.