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Shailene Woodley: Will she appear in 'The Amazing Spider-Man 3'?

Shailene Woodley filmed scenes as Mary Jane Watson for 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2,' but they were reportedly cut early on. Will Shailene Woodley continue in the franchise, or will her schedule for the 'Divergent' film series prevent that? Possible spoilers for 'Amazing Spider-Man 2' follow.

Even in a year of 鈥渂ig鈥� 鈥� as in, cast size, budget, and thematically-speaking 鈥� superhero movies like and , still stands out as an 鈥渆vent,鈥� as well as a major upgrade to the rebooted Spider-Man continuity.

However, there is one traditionally-important element of the web-slinger鈥檚 mythos that was early in post-production: Mary Jane Watson, Peter Parker鈥檚 other famous love interest, who was brought to life in the aforementioned deleted scenes by Golden Globe-nominee Shailene Woodley ().

Woodley has, in recent months, publicly voiced her doubts about her playing Mary Jane in , since the second and third installments in the Divergent franchise 鈥� based on the young adult novel trilogy 鈥� have already been scheduled for release , meaning that shooting for the duo projects would overlap (and thus conflict) with Webb鈥檚 Spider-Man trilogy capstone (also slated to arrive in 2016).

That concern is all the more real, now that the Divergent sequel has been formally green-lit, thanks to the first installment having already eclipsed its $85 million budget after less than two weeks.

As you can see in the video interview with , Woodley is more uncertain than ever about her being a part of the forthcoming Amazing Spider-Man movies, what with Divergent聽having managed to do what other recent YA adaptations (Beautiful Creatures, The Host) have failed at: successfully launching a new cinematic intellectual property, beyond one installment.

Similarly, as her Divergent costar Theo James points out during the Total Film interview, Lionsgate/Summit would prefer for its young star to remain focused on the studios鈥� latest YA property, rather than split her time between Divergent sequels and rival Sony鈥檚 franchise. Moreover, Woodley鈥檚 ongoing role as Tris is demanding enough as is; it鈥檚 one thing to shoot three short scenes as Mary Jane, but it鈥檇 be a whole other challenge to play the character in a larger capacity, on top of her ongoing role as Tris.

Woodley鈥檚 latest comments raise another interesting question: how significant a role will Mary Jane play in Amazing Spider-Man 3 鈥� assuming that she is, in fact, a part of the film 鈥� and would it indeed require a greater time and effort investment than Woodley can provide over the next couple years?

Amazing Spider-Man 2 screenwriters Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Jeff Pinkner will have planted the seeds for the third movie (which ) in the sequel. No matter if Gwen Stacy鈥檚 (Emma Stone) famous comic book death plays out onscreen or if the character simply by the end of Amazing Spider-Man 2, it appears as though the writers鈥� blueprints for the next Spider-Man movie includes, at least, partially removing Gwen from the picture before Part 3.

Point being, when you couple all that with the fact that the original plan was to introduce Mary Jane in Part 2 of the rebooted Spider-Man continuity, it seems safe to assume the character will soon be making an appearance 鈥� in a proper love interest capacity, no less.

If possible, Woodley as Mary Jane in Amazing Spider-Man 3 would be a welcome bit of casting鈥� or, rather, non-recasting, since she has technically already played the role once. Woodley has proven quite capable at playing authentic young characters in convincing onscreen romances (see: ), so her acting opposite聽Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker could be a promising continuation of that trend.

Assuming that Woodley doesn鈥檛 work on the Amazing Spider-Man series, though, it would presumably benefit the Peter/Mary Jane dynamic to have a similarly capable rising star (with a strong dramatic background) in the latter role. That鈥檚 assuming their relationship will be written to contrast with the whirlwind first-love between Pete and聽Gwen (Stone is Garfield鈥檚 real-life girlfriend) in the earlier films, and to keep on providing this superhero franchise with a solid 鈥渉eart鈥� to ground its pulpier elements.

Sandy Schaefer blogs at .