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Tom Holland reveals actor who should replace him as Spider-Man
June 16, 2026, 8:58 a.m. ET
Tom Holland is thinking about his Marvel succession plan.
In a new Esquire profile published June 16, the actor, 30, named the star who could replace him as Spider-Man when the time comes to pass the torch.
“Owen Cooper would be awesome. Obviously he’s super-talented and the talk of the town right now,” Holland said, though he also floated the idea of casting a fresh face.
Cooper, 16, broke out in 2025 with his role as a 13-year-old boy arrested on suspicion of murder in the acclaimed Netflix miniseries “Adolescence.” He won the Emmy for best supporting actor in a limited or anthology series or movie, becoming the youngest person to do so. He was also the youngest nominee in the category ever. “Adolescence” was Cooper’s first professional acting role, though he has since popped up as a young Heathcliff in 2026’s “Wuthering Heights.”
Holland is far from the first to suggest Cooper should play Spider-Man. The young star has been a heavy favorite among Marvel fans ever since “Adolescence” first came out. Cooper has also expressed interest in the role, though he doesn’t want to succeed Holland anytime soon.
“I’d like to do it, but not for a good long time, like 10-15 years,” he told Variety in 2025. “But that’s only when Tom Holland backs off.”
Cooper, who has named Holland as one of his acting inspirations, also said on “The Tonight Show” that playing Spider-Man was a “dream of mine since I was a kid,” though he isn’t “expecting” it to happen.
Holland’s comments come as he begins his promotional tour for “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” which marks his first appearance as Peter Parker since 2021. There has been no indication that the new movie will be Holland’s last time playing the character.
But Holland has long discussed his desire to eventually pass on the role to a new actor and do whatever he can to make it a smooth transition, like Robert Downey Jr. did for him. As Iron Man, Downey helped introduce Holland’s Spider-Man to the Marvel Cinematic Universe beginning in 2016’s “Captain America: Civil War” before departing the franchise in 2019, though Downey later returned to play Doctor Doom in the upcoming “Avengers: Doomsday.”
“For whoever’s next, whether that is a Miles Morales or a Spider-Gwen or a Spider-Woman or something like that, I would love to be a part of setting up the next chapter,” Holland told Empire. “Whatever that looks like, I don’t know. But if I could do what Downey did for me, then I would be so content swinging off into the sunset.”
With “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” Holland will become the first live-action Spider-Man actor to star in four solo movies. Tobey Maguire led three “Spider-Man” films before Andrew Garfield replaced him in the role in 2012, and Garfield only got two movies before Holland took over. Holland had just turned 19 when his Spider-Man casting was announced in June 2015.
In 2021, ahead of the release of “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” Holland made headlines when he told GQ he was looking to exit the role sooner rather than later. He said at the time that “if I’m playing Spider-Man after I’m 30, I’ve done something wrong.” But in a more recent interview with GQ, Holland, who turned 30 this month, walked this statement back.
“I think the point of it is that I would love to pass the baton on, and I haven’t achieved that yet,” he said. “It’s definitely something that we talk about a lot at the studio. So maybe I need to change the quote to 37.”
Holland also acknowledged the comment could have simply been a negotiating tactic.
“I could also have been trying to leverage Sony and scare them into thinking I wasn’t going to do Spider-Man 4 now that I had a new deal on the horizon,” he told GQ. “So I don’t know what it could have been. It could’ve been part of a strategy to create fear.”
