11 Actors Auditioned to Play Spider-Man But Weren't Cast, Including a Grammy Nominated Musician

Jake Gyllenhaal

Before he was cast in Spider-Man: Far From Home, Jake Gyllenhaal was in the running to replace Tobey as the web-slinging hero after he suffered an injury and was briefly fired.

“There are so many roles in my career where I was up against another actor, or something happened that possibly could’ve happened but didn’t happen but maybe it would have… Eventually my belief is when an actor’s played a character, particularly in a movie, the character’s theirs, and that’s that. But yeah [Tobey] hurt himself and there was talk. And there was a slew of actors [possibly up for the part], and I was one of them,” he told Yahoo Entertainment.

Dylan O’Brien

Teen Wolf star Dylan O’Brien was so heavily rumored to be playing Spider-Man that he spoke out about the rumors in an interview.

He told BuzzFeed News in 2015 that he had in fact not even auditioned for the part.

“Professionally, I haven’t heard anything about it,” he explained. “I’ve only heard from, like, [rumors] online.” He continued, saying, “It feels so weird to say. It’s so funny. My friends from New Jersey are calling me. They’re like, what are you not telling me, dude?! Spider-Man?!”

Dylan wanted fans to know that he was interested. “I’ve always wanted to play Peter Parker, obviously. I feel like any actor my age, that’s, like, a big thing. And my name being tossed with Logan Lerman‘s is the coolest thing ever, too. I just think that kid is f-cking fantastic.”

He laughed. “It’s really just, you know, I guess I’ll see if I even hear about it? But thank you, internet, for giving me false hope!”