After months of rumors, speculation, and a few different "short lists," this week Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures officially announced who will be replacing 31-year-old Andrew Garfield as their teenage superhero Spider-Man. The role of Peter Parker has gone to 19-year-old British actor Tom Holland, who was previously best known for costarring in 2012's The Impossible, and for starring in Billy Elliot in the London production. Tom Holland is expected to almost immediately report to Atlanta to start filming his first film as Peter Parker, in next year's Captain America: Civil War (5/6/16). After that film wraps, the focus will turn to the new solo Spider-Man movie, which Sony Pictures (and Marvel) has scheduled for July 28, 2017.
That movie will be directed by Jon Watts, whose Sundance hit Cop Car is scheduled for release on August 7, 2015. Other young actors that Marvel and Sony considered before casting Tom Holland included Asa Butterfield (Hugo), Judah Lewis (this fall's Demolition), Matthew Lintz (Pixels), Charlie Plummer (HBO's Boardwalk Empire), and Charlie Rowe (TV's Red Band Society). Tom Holland won the role as Peter Parker after a series of screen tests, which included auditioning with Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans, under supervision from Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige and former Sony executive Amy Pascal. Other directors that Marvel and Sony considered before hiring Jon Watts included Jonathan Levine (Warm Bodies), Ted Melfi (St. Vincent), and codirectors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein (Vacation)
