KEY POINTS

  • Andrew Garfield said ex Emma Stone frequently reached out to him about the rumors he would return as Spider-Man in "No Way Home"
  • He shared that he kept lying to her no matter how many times she asked
  • Garfield and Stone co-starred in 2012's "The Amazing Spider-Man" and its 2014 sequel

Andrew Garfield didn't just lie to the world about his surprise appearance in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," he also hid it from Emma Stone.

Garfield, 38, initially denied any involvement in the third installment of Tom Holland's "Spider-Man" in interviews. But the actor has now revealed that his ex-girlfriend and former "Amazing Spider-Man" co-star also frequently reached out to him about the rumors he would return as Spider-Man in the most recent film.

"Emma kept on texting me. She was like, 'Are you in this new 'Spider-Man' film?'" he said during an appearance on Josh Horowitz's podcast "Happy Sad Confused" Monday. "And I was like, 'I don't know what you're talking about.'"

Garfield continued while laughing, "She was like, 'Shut up. Just tell me.' I'm like, 'I honestly don't know.' I kept it going, even with her. And then she saw it. She was like, 'You're a jerk.'"

Garfield starred as the titular superhero in 2012's "The Amazing Spider-Man" and its 2014 sequel. Stone played his love interest, Gwen Stacy.

After meeting on the set of the first "Amazing Spider-Man" film in 2011, Garfield and Stone became a couple both on and off the screen. They dated for four years before calling it quits in 2015.

In addition to Garfield, "No Way Home," which introduced the multiverse into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, also featured an appearance from Tobey Maguire, who starred in three "Spider-Man" films from 2002 to 2007. The two shared the big screen with the current Peter Parker, Holland, in the blockbuster.

In an interview with The Wrap after the release of "No Way Home," Garfield opened up about how he felt about lying all those times about his involvement in the superhero movie. He admitted that it wasn't easy, but he somehow enjoyed it.

"It was stressful, I'm not gonna lie. It was rather stressful but also weirdly enjoyable. It was like this massive game of Werewolf that I was playing with journalists and with people guessing, and it was very fun," he said. "There were moments where I was like, 'God, I hate lying.' I don't like to lie and I'm not a good liar, but I kept framing it as a game. And I kept imagining myself purely as a fan of that character, which is not hard to do."

Rumors surfaced last year that Garfield and Maguire may appear in "No Way Home," but the former claimed at the time that he hasn't heard anything official.

"But it's important for me to say on the record that this is not something I'm aware I am involved in. But I know I'm not going to be able to say anything that will convince anyone that I don't know what's happening," he told Variety three months before the movie was released. "No matter what I say, I'm f--ked. It's either going to be really disappointing for people or it's going to be really exciting."

Holland also previously denied rumors claiming Maguire and Garfield will make cameo appearances in the latest installment. "No, no, they will not be appearing in this film," he said, adding that if they would, it would be "too big of a secret for them to keep from me."

emma stone andrew garfield
Actors Andrew Garfield (L) and Emma Stone answer questions from fans during a 'Town Hall' special on SiriusXM's The Foxxhole channel at the SiriusXM Studio in New York City, April 24, 2014. Getty Images/Neilson Barnard