Zendaya and Tom Holland have been fielding romantic rumors ever since they starred as love interests in 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming. Fans have speculated about their status for years, but it wasn’t until a recent awards ceremony that the duo made their relationship public. The Internet was overjoyed - but if one Spider-Man film producer had had anything to say about it, there might never have been a Tomdaya at all.
To celebrate the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home, producers Amy Pascal and Kevin Feige sat down with The New York Times to ponder the next stage of the Webslinger’s journey. Naturally, the discussion turned to Zendaya and Tom Holland’s newfound couple status. It’s a topic that Amy Pascal is all too familiar with: after all, she worked with Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, as well as Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone in Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man duology.
Not one, not two, but all three of those couples had wound up dating at one point or another. New York Times writer Brooks Barnes jokingly blamed the spandex, while Amy Pascal revealed that she had attempted to warn Tom Holland and Zendaya about the ramifications of dating co-stars. She said:
I took Tom and Zendaya aside, separately, when we first cast them and gave them a lecture. Don’t go there — just don’t. Try not to. I gave the same advice to Andrew and Emma. It can just complicate things, you know? And they all ignored me.
An army of Twitter stans may disagree, but Amy Pascal has a point. It can be difficult to focus on a professional project when a significant other is involved, especially an undertaking as high profile as a Marvel movie. One could also point out that the first two Spider-Man actor romances ended either during or after filming.
This isn’t to say that Tom Holland and Zendaya are doomed to repeat history. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone were together for four years (an eon in Hollywood) and seemingly remain on good terms. Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst are also proud owners of buried hatchets. Dunst has even said that her co-star was her favorite Spider-Man, and that she wouldn’t be opposed to reprising her role as Mary Jane Watson.
If the Spider-Man: No Way Home press tour is anything to go by, Zendaya and Tom Holland are having the time of their lives. The pair’s onscreen chemistry isn’t just for the cameras. They seem to genuinely enjoy each other’s company, a component that can be a rarity in the world of Hollywood dating. And, since they just completed the last live-action Spider-Man movie (for now), they won’t have to worry about working together for the time being. I say rock on - you’re only Spider-Man and MJ once.
Catch Tom Holland as Peter Parker and Zendaya as MJ in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is now playing in theaters everywhere.
