Emma Stone's Gwen Stacy Return was Scrapped from Spider-Man No Way Home

New information in the book MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios, authored by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzales, and Gavin Edwards, revealed that a number of notable characters from earlier Spider-Man films, including Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy, appeared in early drafts of the film No Way Home.

A portion of the book claims that authors Erik Sommer and Chris McKenna produced a version of the Tom Holland-starring movie that

"Sommers and McKenna, at various points, wrote versions of the story that incorporated Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy, Kirsten Dunst’s Mary Jane Watson, and Sally Field’s Aunt May, but ultimately cut all those women when they decided that the story was already overstuffed; the only female characters with significant screen time would be Marisa Tomei’s Aunt May and Zendaya’s MJ. Because the screenplay was constantly in flux, none of the actors could read a locked script, and they joined the project based on their faith in [Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige], [Producer Amy Pascal], and director Jon Watts."

“We went down different roads with different characters that just didn’t fit… we can’t get into the details of that because it might be the kind of thing where they’ll find a way to explore those ideas. So I’d hate to spoil anything because I think we had a lot of fun.”