Recap: Shailene Woodley Gets Cut Out Of ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’, 3 & 4 Announced

On Tuesday it was announced that Sony is moving forward with the third and fourth entries in The Amazing Spider-Man and set tentative release dates for them (for 2016 and 2018, respectively). On Wednesday it was announced that Shailene Woodley, who is (or…was) playing Mary Jane Watson, had been cut entirely from the second film which is still filming. The obvious joke to go for here is that Terrence Malick is directing it and I’m sticking by that joke.

So what’s happening? How did poor Shailene find herself cut from The Amazing Spider-Man 2? As is being reported, and is pretty obvious, is that they are waiting to introduce MJ later on in the franchise, which is a very smart decision. A lot of fans were bummed when MJ had been cast because it meant a few things *spoiler alert spoiler alert*: that Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacey would die off in the second one (which I still believe is going to happen) and that there will be a less Emma and Andrew in the franchise, which is why the first worked so well (for those who liked it).

I liked The Amazing Spider-Man. Actually, I really liked it. Is it a little premature of Sony to announce the third and fourth installments so soon? Of course, but let’s not act surprised here. And while we’re at it, let’s not feel too bad for Shailene. Sure, it sucks. But, um, she has a potentially big franchise (though I get the flop feeling more and more from it) with Divergent. She has The Spectacular Now coming out later this summer  (and the trailer is just released and this movie is going to break me) which is all anyone can talk about. She was cast in The Fault In Our Stars, the highly anticipated film adaptation of the smash novel. The girl from The Secret Life of an American Teenager is doing PRETTY GOOD. So, shit happens. And anyways, EMMA + ANDREW 4EVER.

But what’s most important here is that there is now one less major character in this sequel that still has was too many characters.