Willem Dafoe Says Keeping Spider-Man: No Way Home Role Secret Was a 'Fun Little Game'

Courtesy of Sony Pictures

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Marvel's latest Spider-Man film, Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Willem Dafoe didn't stress about keeping his Spider-Man: No Way Home cameo under wraps. In fact, Dafoe, 66, said he created "a fun little game" out of his secret.

The actor, who returned to the Spider-Man franchise in 2021 to reprise his role as the Green Goblin, told Variety he was impressed by how well No Way Home kept his appearance a secret.

Dafoe, who professed he's "a bad liar," told the outlet he didn't have to fib about his involvement in the superhero flick, explaining, "Often I go off and people don't ask where!"

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Dafoe first appeared in a Spider-Man film as Green Goblin/Norman Osborn in 2002. The actor told Variety that his character in the original film had "a split personality," not unlike Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

"It's a split personality, a guy that's conflicted," he said. "It's that classic thing of a devil on the shoulder and an angel on that shoulder."

When it came to reprising his complicated character, Dafoe said he was initially confused, pointing out that his character had previously been killed off.

"It's always a little difficult when you die in a movie to come back in any sequels," he said. "I thought I was finished. When they initially said, 'Would you like to reprise this role?' I thought, 'Really? How does that happen?' I was kind of stupid about it."

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Still, he enjoyed returning to the franchise, Dafoe said, telling Variety, "I can say, and maybe drank the Kool-Aid, but these are people that really are believing in what they're doing and giving themselves to it in a very full way."

He added, "I'm not just talking about really good actors. I'm talking about the effects people, the camera department – they're all very top level. And then when you have the resources and possibility of making a popular film, that's all pretty attractive."

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Dafoe wasn't the only star to reprise his role in the latest Spider-Man film. Two actors who played Spider-Man/Peter Parker previously — Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire — also returned, and Alfred Molina reprised his role as Dr. Otto Octavius for No Way Home.

Like Dafoe, Garfield, 38, also had to keep his role under wraps. The actor said he even kept his involvement a secret from his ex-girlfriend, Emma Stone, who starred in two Spider-Man movies with him as Gwen Stacy.

"Emma kept on texting me. She was like, 'Are you in this new Spider-Man film?' " Garfield told Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast earlier this month. "And I was like, 'I don't know what you're talking about.' "

He added, "She was like, 'Shut up. Just tell me.' I'm like, 'I honestly don't know' — I kept it going, even with her. And then she saw it. She was like, 'You're a jerk.' "

Spider-Man: No Way Home is in theaters now.