Ever since Sony announced that they were releasing The Amazing Spider-Man 3 and The Amazing Spider-Man 4 in the coming years, Shailene Woodley‘s role as Mary Jane was thrown into the rumor mill. In a matter of hours Woodley’s involvement went from being cut out of two and introduce her in 3, to her being cut out from the film entirely. Part of this reason is because Woodley is on contract to appear in an adaptation of the Divergent novel series, which is more than just one book, which also conflicts with her schedule.

It has been made clear that Mary Jane would not be a vital part of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 to begin with, and that her biggest role would be in the sequel. Not too long after director Marc Webb made his announcement to streamline the Mary Jane character to focus on Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacy’s relationship, EW Canada reports that Sarah Gadon (A Dangerous Mind, Cosmopolis) has reportedly signed on to appear in the film, which could possibly mean that Woodley’s replacement has been found.

This is what Woodley had to say about being cut from the film:

Based on the context it sounded like she would appear in the third film, but Webb’s quote that followed hours later confirmed that she had been cut from the film.

Then came EW Canada’s big tweet:

Huge news for @sarahgadon – she just confirmed to us that she is joining The Amazing Spider-Man franchise pic.twitter.com/HpRcAMhQGU

— ET Canada (@ETCanada) June 21, 2013

Now the tweet doesn’t mention that Gadon was going to play Mary Jane specifically, but based on the timeline alone, it sounds like Sony found its replacement. We can’t be certain for sure since Webb, Sony, or anyone else involved has yet to comment on the casting.

[Source: ET Canada]