Hot off the news that Sony has announced the release dates for The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 4 comes word that The Spectacular Now star Shailene Woodley, who was set to make a brief appearance as Mary Jane Watson in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and have an expanded role in the third film, will not be appearing in the sequel after all.

It’s been confirmed that the Mary Jane role has been cut from the second film entirely, and that her character will be introduced in the third film. Not only that, but it looks like Woodley might not be there to play the part.

The Spectacular Now
Director: James Ponsoldt
Screenwriter: Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber
Cast: Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kyle Chandler

Directed by James Ponsoldt (Smashed), The Spectacular Now stars Miles Teller (Footloose) as Sutter Keely, a charming high school senior who lives in “the now.” Sutter is the life of the party – a kid with no plans for the future other than holding down his job at the local men’s clothing store.

Sutter’s lack of ambition might have something to do with being an aspiring alcoholic – carrying a flask of the hard stuff with him at all times. He finally hits rock bottom after being dumped by his girlfriend (Brie Larson) and wakes up on a lawn with Aimee Finicky (Shailene Woodley) standing over him. Aimee’s the shy, nice girl who reads science-fiction manga and works her mother’s paper route. While Aimee has dreams of escaping her dead-end small town, Sutter lives in the absorbing delusion of “the spectacular now,” and yet somehow, they’re drawn to one another.

Sony has announced that The Amazing Spider-Man 2, directed by Marc Webb, has officially entered the production phase and has released the film’s official synopsis. The studio also confirmed a couple of new casting additions, one of which we reported on just days ago. Hit the jump to check out the plot description and the two new casting additions.

Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, and Sally Field all return to reprise their respective roles. Jamie Foxx, Dane Dehaan, and Shailene Woodley will join them in the highly anticipated sequel. In addition to those three, Paul Giamatti, who is rumored to play The Rhino, has been confirmed. Colm Feore (Chronicles of Riddick and Thor) also joins the cast.

It’s become very clear that the Osborn family and corporation will be a major factor The Amazing Spider-Man 2. We previously posted that Brady Corbet (Tetro), Alden Ehrenreich (Beautiful Creatures), and Dane Dehaan (Chronicle) were up for the role of Harry Osborn, son of Norman Osborn and heir to OsCorp.

Now you can add Sam Claflin, Eddie Redmayne, Boyd Holbrook, and Douglas Booth to the mix as they will also be in the running for the same role. These seven actors will test for the role in the coming days. Filming is expected to begin sometime early next year.

Marc Webb was very close to not directing The Amazing Spider-Man 2, but he was able to work a few things out that would allow him to return to helm the sequel. With Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone set to reprise their roles as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy respectively, Webb was looking for a couple of actors to fill new roles.

We previously reported that Shailene Woodley signed on for a small role as Mary Jane Watson in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and if that film was successful her role would be expanded in The Amazing Spider-Man 3. Which would make sense given what happens to Gwen Stacy in Spider-Man lore. However in that same report it was rumored that Electro would be the villain in the sequel. That rumor is now a fact as Django Unchained star Jamie Foxx is attached to the role.