There is a truth universally (and comedically) acknowledged that if there's a Marvel spoiler to be spoiled, then Tom Holland will spoil it, even if it's all by accident. So you can understand A) his bosses looking to keep as much from him as they can and B) when he makes pronouncements about his new film, it's hard to take it completely at face value. Choose your path, then, when he tells Esquire that former Spider-suit-fillers Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire will not be appearing in the third MCU Spider-Man movie.
"No, no, they will not be appearing in this film,” he tells the magazine. "Unless they have hidden the most massive piece of information from me, which I think is too big of a secret for them to keep from me. But as of yet, no. It’ll be a continuation of the Spider-Man movies that we’ve been making." He does also say, however: "I honestly have no idea what this film is about and I’m eight weeks into shooting it."
It's surprising, since a lot of the chatter about the new Spider-film has been about the various multiverse concepts that are set to pop up – Jamie Foxx's Electro from the Garfield era and Alfred Molina from Maguire's run have both been reported as appearing, while the presence of Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange points to potential dimension-crossing. Also pertinent? "as of yet". Hhm...
So... do we need to crank up the Pants On Fire klaxon? Is this simply a case of a Marvel actor ordered to tiptoe around the truth to try and keep the secret for the three people who haven't read the online rumours? Time, as always, will tell. For more from Holland, head to Esquire. The new Spidey film, whatever it ends up being called, should be out in December.