‘I wanted to be as involved as they would allow me to be’: Tom Holland opens up about moving into producing on his new series

As blessed as he is to get to be Spider-Man on the big screen (and he’ll be the first one to tell you just how blessed he is), one can’t blame Tom Holland for not wanting to be seen as the webslinger for the rest of his life. Frankly, we don’t want that for him, either; the actor’s dramatic chops are far too delectable to go underutilized, and we can only hope for a wide slew of mature roles in the future.

One such step in that direction is The Crowded Room, the upcoming Apple TV Plus series starring Holland as a young man, Danny Sullivan, who gets arrested for a heinous crime despite his dubious guilt. As investigator Rya Goodwin tries getting to the bottom of the truth with the help of Danny’s account, many shocking revelations begin to rear their heads.

Indeed, it’s surely a step away from Spider-Man shenanigans, but Holland’s involvement with The Crowded Room has the extra-special distinction of being the actor’s debut as a producer; an opportunity that he took extremely seriously.

In an interview with Collider, Holland wasn’t coy about how much work goes into producing, nor did he skimp on the sheer pride that he feels for this project.

“It’s a tough ask, and I didn’t take that new responsibility lightly, I was very involved. I was very hands-on. I wanted to be as involved as they would allow me to be, and it was tough, it required a lot of focus. It meant that my days were longer and my nights were shorter, and it was tough, but it was so rewarding. I really do think I’ve left my mark on this show. I’m proud of the stuff that I’ve done as a producer, I’m proud of what I stood up for, and I’m just really excited for the fans to see it.”

And while Holland should absolutely be proud of the individual effort he brings to each and every film and series he’s involved with, The Crowded Room is unfortunately off to a pretty brutal start with critics, holding a disastrous 10 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes ahead of its release, with a further score of 38 points out of 100 on Metacritic; it looks like time will tell if his business-as-usual brilliance is worth tuning in to this one.

The Crowded Room will release to Apple TV Plus on June 9, starting with the first three episodes, while the remaining seven will land on a weekly basis.