Shailene Woodley Confirmed For 'The Amazing Spider-Man 2,' And Probably 'The Amazing Spider-Man 3' Too

Buried in the news of Shailene Woodley's latest piece of casting was a major piece of news about her participation in The Amazing Spider-Man franchise. Marc Webb is back to direct The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Woodley has now been confirmed to play Mary Jane Watson, a role previously played by Kirsten Dunst in the Sam Raimi films. Of course in Webb's first film, Emma Stone played another of the famous loves of Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), Gwen Stacy.

So how does this all fit? Well, Woodley's part in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will reportedly be small in contrast to Stone's, setting her up for a larger role in the trilogy's conclusion, The Amazing Spider-Man 3. Read more of the spoiler filled details after the jump.

The news came from the Hollywood Reporter story of Woodley being cast in Divergent. Here's the text in question, beware spoilers.

Woodley initially had scheduling issues as an obstacle to the dealmaking, having had offers to play both Mary Jane and the Divergent lead. But the Mary Jane role is proving to be only a very small part in Amazing Spider-Man 2 but blossoms into an integral lead for the planned third movie as the studio seeks to build to the classic "Death of Gwen Stacy" story.

Damn, sorry Emma Stone. But she was well-aware when she took the part that Stacy would meet an unfortunate end just like she does in the comics.

So the question becomes, when does Stacy die? Does she die at the end of the second film? In the third film? If Sony is planning a trilogy you'd imagine it would happen at the end of the sequel, leaving us with a huge downer cliffhanger (ala Empire Strikes Back, The Dark Knight, Back to the Future Part II, etc.) and then bring Watson in to "save" Peter in the third and final film.

Do you like this arc for the trilogy? Does this mean Green Goblin will be back?