Untitled Spider-Man: Far From Home sequel

During production on Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), two Spider-Man sequels were being planned by Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures.[11] In June 2017, star Tom Holland said the third film would take place during Peter Parker / Spider-Man's senior year of high school.[12] In July 2019, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige said the third film would feature "a Peter Parker story that has never been done before on film" due to the ending of the second film, Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019), which publicly revealed that Parker is Spider-Man.[13] Homecoming and Far From Home director Jon Watts expressed interest in Kraven the Hunter being the main antagonist of the third film.[14]

By August 2019, development on two new Spider-Man films had begun with Sony hoping Watts and Holland would return for both;[15] Holland was contracted to return for one more film, while Watts had completed his two-film deal and would need to sign on for any more films.[16][17] By then, Marvel Studios and its parent company Walt Disney Studios had spent several months discussing expanding their deal with Sony. The existing deal had Marvel and Feige produce the Spider-Man films for Sony and receive 5% of their revenue. Sony wanted to expand the deal to include more films than had initially been agreed on while keeping the same terms of the original agreement. Disney expressed concern with Feige's workload producing the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) franchise already and asked for a 25–50% stake in any future films Feige produced for Sony.[15][18][17] Unable to come to an agreement, Sony announced that it would be moving forward on the next Spider-Man film without Feige or Marvel's involvement. Their statement acknowledged that this could change in the future, thanked Feige for his work on the first two films, and said they appreciated "the path [Feige] has helped put us on, which we will continue."[18]

Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers were writing the screenplay for the third film by the time of Sony's announcement, after also doing so for Far From Home, but Watts was receiving offers to direct large films for other studios instead of returning to the franchise, including potentially working on a different property for Marvel Studios and Feige.[17] In September, Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman Tony Vinciquerra said that "for the moment the door is closed" on Spider-Man returning to the MCU, and confirmed that the character would be integrated with Sony's own shared universe—the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters—moving forward. Responding to backlash from fans following the announcement, Vinciquerra added that "the Marvel people are terrific people, we have great respect for them, but on the other hand we have some pretty terrific people of our own. [Feige] didn't do all the work ... we're pretty capable of doing what we have to do here."[19] However, after this fan reaction continued at Disney's biennial convention D23, and at the urging of Holland who personally spoke to Disney CEO Bob Iger and Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group chairman Tom Rothman,[20] the companies returned to negotiations.[21]

Sony and Disney announced a new agreement at the end of September which would allow Marvel Studios and Feige to produce another Spider-Man film for Sony, scheduled for July 16, 2021, keeping the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.[1] Disney was reported to be co-financing 25% of the film in exchange for 25% of the film's profits, while retaining the merchandising rights to the character.[1][21] The agreement also allowed Holland's Spider-Man to appear in a future Marvel Studios film. Feige stated, "I am thrilled that Spidey's journey in the MCU will continue, and I and all of us at Marvel Studios are very excited that we get to keep working on it." He added that moving forward the MCU's Spider-Man would be able to "cross cinematic universes" and appear in Sony's own shared universe as well.[1] This interaction was said to be "a 'call and answer' between the two franchises as they acknowledge details between the two in what would loosely be described as a shared detailed universe". Sony described their previous films with Marvel Studios as a "great collaboration", and said "our mutual desire to continue was equal to that of the many fans."[21] At the time of the new agreement, Watts was in final negotiations to direct the film.[22]

Discussing the new deal in October, Iger attributed it to the efforts of Holland as well as the fan response to the end of the original deal, saying, "I felt for [Holland], and it was clear the fans wanted this to happen." He added that while negotiating the deal both Sony and Disney had forgotten "there are other people who actually matter."[23] Rothman added that he felt the deal was a "win-win-win. A win for Sony, a win for Disney, a win for the fans." Speaking back to the August reports of the negotiating breaking down, Rothman said that revelations in the media of discussions such as the negotiations do not necessarily line up with the actual discussions taking place, and he felt that the final deal would have eventuated without the reports and fan discourse, saying, "We would have gotten there, and the news got ahead of some things."[24] Also in October, Zendaya was confirmed to be reprising her role of MJ from the previous films in the sequel.[2] By the end of the year, filming was expected to begin in mid-2020.[25]

In April 2020, Sony rescheduled the film to November 5, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[26] In June, Marisa Tomei confirmed she would return as May Parker along with Watts as director. She was hopeful that May's work as a community organizer would be featured in the film.[6] The next month, Holland said production was planned to take place from late 2020 to February 2021,[27] and Sony shifted the film's release to December 17, 2021.[28] Tony Revolori was also confirmed to be reprising his role as Flash Thompson.[9]

In early October, Jacob Batalon and Benedict Cumberbatch were set to reprise their MCU roles of Ned Leeds and Dr. Stephen Strange, while Jamie Foxx was set to return as Electro from Sony's The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014), with filming beginning later in the month.[4][7] Richard Newby of The Hollywood Reporter felt Cumberbatch's casting indicated that the film would draw inspiration from the "One More Day" and "One Moment in Time" comic book storylines in which Parker's secret identity is restored with magic.[29] Graeme McMillan, also from The Hollywood Reporter, felt that Strange's inclusion was not a coincidence considering the casting of past Spider-Man film actors like Foxx.[30]

Second unit filming occurred from October 14 to 16, 2020 in New York City,[31][32][33] under the working title Serenity Now,[34][32] to capture visual effects plates and establishing shots.[31] Filming occurred in the Astoria, Sunnyside, and Long Island City neighborhoods in Queens.[35][33] On October 23, filming occurred in Greenwich Village in Manhattan.[36]

The production moved to Atlanta by October 25, with Holland, Batalon, and Zendaya joining for principal photography,[37][38] after Holland finished shooting Sony's Uncharted (2022) two days earlier.[39][31][40] Seamus McGarvey serves as cinematographer on the film after doing so on Marvel's The Avengers (2012).[41] Principal photography was delayed from an initial July 2020 start date due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[42][43][27] Shooting occurred at Trilith Studios, with strict safety measures in place on the soundstages to prevent exposure to COVID-19.[44] To reduce interactions between cast and crew members on set during the pandemic and prevent further shut downs, the production will reportedly rely on "innovative new technology" that will scan actors into a visual effects system that can apply make-up and costumes to actors during post-production.[45] Cumberbatch began shooting his scenes for the film in Atlanta by late November, before beginning work on Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), which began filming that month in London.[46][47] Filming ran for seven-to-eight weeks, before a break during the Christmas season.[48][40]

By December 2020, Alfred Molina and Kirsten Dunst were set to reprise their respective roles as Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus and Mary Jane Watson from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film trilogy,[8][49] along with Andrew Garfield as his Peter Parker / Spider-Man from Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man films. Emma Stone was also expected to return as Gwen Stacy from the latter films, while Tobey Maguire was in talks to return as his Peter Parker from the Raimi films.[49] Discussing the return of actors from previous Spider-Man iterations, Newby felt a crossover-style film could "lessen the impact" of Sony's successful animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018).[29] McMillan compared the "Spider-Verse" to the DC Comics comic event Crisis on Infinite Earths, saying "a multiversal storyline offers Marvel the opportunity to clean up some loose ends while setting up the future of its cinematic universe, and fulfill some fan dreams in the process". He felt it was possible for other Spider-Men to cameo in the film, including characters from Into the Spider-Verse, actor Nicholas Hammond from the 1970s television series, or Takuya Yamashiro, the Toei Spider-Man. McMillan also referenced the contract negotiations between Marvel and Sony when he suggested that the film could be used to separate Spider-Man from the MCU.[30] /Film's Hoai-Tran Bui feared the film was becoming "seriously over-crowded" and wished that Holland could "hold his own without a bigger A-list star showing him the ropes", but was not opposed to having "some good old banter between Holland, Garfield, and Maguire".[50] Shortly after, and Feige confirmed the film would have connections with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.[51]

Feige acknowledged in January 2021 that the film was being referred to by some as Spider-Man 3, and said that Marvel was internally referring to it as Homecoming 3 though that was not its actual title.[52] By then, Charlie Cox, who portrayed Matt Murdock / Daredevil in Marvel Television's Netflix series, had reportedly shot material for the film,[53] while an Atlanta set photo indicated the film would occur during the Christmas season.[54] Filming occurred at Frederick Douglass High School from January 22 to 24.[55] The next month, Holland described it as "the most ambitious standalone superhero" film.[48] Filming is scheduled to take place at Midtown High School from March 19 to 21. The Atlanta Public Schools system had stopped allowing buildings in the district for use as filming locations because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but gave this film an exception since both were previously used as filming locations in Spider-Man: Homecoming.[55] Filming is expected to also occur in Los Angeles and Iceland,[42] and will last until March 2021.[37]