Andrew Garfield cast as Spider-Man

Well, Sony had been quite keen, as soon as it announced that it was totally rebooting the Spider-Man franchise, to get an unknown actor in the lead role. And it's been true to its word.

After several weeks that have seen the likes of Jamie Bell and Logan Lerman inheriting the role of the webslinger from Tobey Maguire, it's now been confirmed that the new Spider-Man is Mr Andrew Garfield.

We're going out on a limb here and we're going to suggest that most of you won't have heard of him. Well, his credits include two episodes of Doctor Who (er, Daleks In Manhattan and Evolution Of The Daleks), The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus and the upcoming The Social Network. The British actor also appeared in a terrific 2009 three-part UK series called Red Riding, which comes highly recommended.

Sony's press release notes that "Today's confirmation culminates what has been one of the most eagerly anticipated casting announcements in recent memory. Bloggers, pop culture speculators, and everyday fans have pored over and analyzed every conceivable online rumor in an attempt to discover the identity of the next actor to play Peter Parker. Garfield will immediately begin preparing for the coveted role."

It's then full of the key personnel from the film talking about how great Garfield is, and is blatantly bullshitting when it says, "From the first time we saw him in the upcoming film The Social Network, to his glorious screen test, which floored all of us, we knew that we had found our new Peter Parker."

Er, if that was the case, why keep the process going as it did? Just a thought.

Nonetheless, Andrew Garfield now has some work to do, as he prepares to take on his first Spider-Man film for director Marc Webb later this year.

We wish him many congratulations, and will bring you more news on Spider-Man as and when we get it...