Andrew Garfield revealed on this week’s episode of the “Happy Sad Confused” podcast that protecting his return as Peter Parker/Spider-Man for “Spider-Man: No Way Home” meant he even had to lie to his former “Spider-Man” co-star Emma Stone. Garfield and Stone starred together as Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy in the Marc Webb-directed “The Amazing Spider-Man” and “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” While Garfield’s return for “Spider-Man: No Way Home” was heavily rumored, the actor lied to everyone he knew in order to protect the major secret.

“Emma [Stone] kept on texting and she was like, ‘Are you in this new ‘Spider-Man’ film?’” Garfield answered when asked if he had told either Stone or Webb about his “No Way Home” return. “And I was like, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ She was like, ‘Shut up. Just tell me.’ And I’m like, ‘I honestly don’t know.’ I kept it going even with her. It’s hilarious.”

Garfield said at no point leading up to the film’s release did he tell Stone the truth, adding, “And then she saw it. She was like, ‘You’re a jerk.’ I didn’t want to tell anyone. I took it super seriously. I told no one.”

Garfield gave his first interview about reprising his “Spider-Man” role to Variety, saying, “I wasn’t expecting to ever have a conversation again about potentially playing Peter Parker. I felt very excited to just to be a fan again. But I got this call from Amy Pascal and Kevin Feige and Jon Watts with this idea. It was immediately undeniable. It sounded incredibly fun, incredibly spiritual — trippy and thematically interesting. On a base level, as a Spider-Man fan, just the idea of seeing three Spider-Men in the same frame was enough.”

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” is now playing in theaters nationwide.