We all knew Sony Pictures and Columbia Pictures were planning multiple movies in their insta-reboot of the Spider-Man franchise, which will start with The Amazing Spider-Man, but it looks like they’re already preparing to begin working on the sequel before the first has even finished filming.

It’s being reported that the services of screenwriter James Vanderbilt have been retained and that he’ll now begin working on the script for the follow-up after pitching an idea to executives that they apparently liked enough to approve of.

Here we have yet another interesting casting announcement. According to reports, stand-up comedian and Rescue Me star Denis Leary is currently working out the dirty details to finalize his joining the cast of the upcoming Spider-Man reboot.

Leary will be playing Captain George Stacy, police officer and father to Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) love interest Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). At the moment, it’s still unclear how faithful to Marvel’s comic book storylines the movie will be, but it’s expected that Leary’s character will have his fair share of interactions with Spider-Man.

*UPDATED BELOW*

A new name has joined the cast of the new Spider-Man reboot being developed by Sony Pictures Entertainment and Columbia Pictures, and that name is Martin Sheen.

It’s being reported that Sheen is now in final negotiations to sign on for the pivotal role of Uncle Ben, who along with Aunt May, raised Peter Parker. As we’ve seen many times over, it’s the murder of Uncle Ben at the hands of a criminal that sets Parker off toward becoming the superhero, Spider-Man.

Sheen joins an already impressive cast that includes Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Emma Stone as Spider-Man’s love interest, Gwen Stacy, and Rhys Ifans as one of the film’s villains, The Lizard.

Recently it was reported that Emma Stone had been offered the role of Mary Jane Watson in Sony Pictures’ reboot of Spider-Man. It would appear that Stone was unable to resist the comic book temptations, as it’s now been announced by the studio that the actress has accepted the role…though it is not for Mary Jane.

In a press release put out by Sony, it was confirmed that Stone would be playing the female lead, but it would be Gwen Stacy, Spider-Man’s first love from the comics, and not the Mary Jane character that Kirsten Dunst played in the first trilogy. It’s unknown whether or not M.J. will show up at all, or if this is just Sony distancing itself even more from what they did the first time around.

It didn’t take Sony Pictures long to find a new director to helm their recently decided reboot of the Spider-Man franchise. The studio has hired relatively unknown Marc Webb to take on the new high-profile, high-risk, high-reward project after the realization that we had seen the best we could have seen from the former cast and crew. The script is written by James Vanderbilt, who Sony had writing multiple sequels.

Webb recently received critical praise for his work on the indie film (500) Days of Summer, which starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. Aside from that movie, Webb has only really done a couple of music videos for Green Day and 3 Doors Down. This makes him a bold choice for director, and it puts him in a massive position that could very easily make or break his entire career. No pressure there. And speaking of Gordon-Levitt, he seems to be the majority fan-favorite for the role of Peter Parker. The hiring of Webb makes this prospect a lot more of a legitimate possibility.

Continue reading for more and to read a full press release from Sony.