Rumors continue to float that the two “original Peter Parkers,” Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield, will appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home. But even if they do, we should note that Tobey Maguire is not the OG Peter. That honor goes to actor Nicholas Hammond. He played Spidey in the short-lived The Amazing Spider-Man live-action TV series. That show ran for two seasons on CBS, from 1977-79.
The Amazing Spider-Man only lasted thirteen episodes, but aired in syndication for years. It deviated from the Marvel Comics, but kids still got a thrill from seeing Spidey swinging around the city. But according to a story in The Hollywood Reporter, it seems no one asked Hammond to be in No Way Home. Although he was really hoping to get that call.
Hammond, who now lives in Australia, said, “I think it would have been huge fun. It would have been a kick in the pants to have the old guy there. I was really hoping I would be approached but unfortunately, that didn’t happen.”
Honestly, Sony and Marvel probably figure not enough folks even remember the short-lived 1970s series anymore. So Hammond standing next to Holland, Garfield, and Maguire in No Way Home would have left many people scratching their heads. But even if he wasn’t a Peter Parker variant, some kind of cameo role seemed called for. The MCU version of Uncle Ben maybe? It’s a shame it didn’t happen.
Regardless, his Spider-Man role led to his most recent prominent mainstream film, where playing director Sam Wanamaker in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. This began when Quentin Tarantino showed a print of the Spider-Man pilot at his Los Angeles theater, the New Beverly. That led him to contact Tarantino to thank him for showing it, and the rest was history. So after all these years, he owes Peter another debt of thanks. Now, what do we have to do to get those old Amazing Spider-Man episodes on to Disney+? They belong there right next to all the Spidey animated shows, if you ask us.
