Andrew Garfield has sung his heart out on Tick, Tick... Boom!, saved 75 soldiers as Desmond Doss in Hacksaw Ridge, and spent plenty of time hanging from skyscrapers as the Amazing Spider-Man. However, the role that really terrifies him comes with fewer special effects but just as much power and responsibility: dad.
The 43-year-old actor got candid about fatherhood during an appearance on Amy Poehler's Good Hang podcast, admitting that becoming a parent is something he wants but finds genuinely frightening.
'Being a dad scares the sh*t out of me. It scares me so much,' Garfield confessed. But the fear does not appear to come from children themselves. For Garfield, it is the sheer importance of getting the job right that carries the weight.
Andrew Garfield Is Terrified of Getting Fatherhood Right
Poehler was quick to reassure him. 'You're gonna be so great,' she told the actor, even miming holding a baby as Garfield laughed and copied the gesture.
The conversation soon turned more reflective. 'I think that would be the biggest [and] most important thing I ever probably do,' Garfield said.
At some point, he admitted that the concept makes him want to cry, to which Poehler playfully chanted, 'Cry, cry, cry, cry.'
Unlike an acting role, fatherhood is one job Garfield already knows from the other side of the script. 'I know what it's like to be on the other end of it. I've been a child. I've been a son.'
Garfield admitted he remains unsure about exactly what parenthood might look like for him. He also wrestled aloud with whether wanting children could itself be selfish, while making clear that he struggles to imagine a greater challenge or responsibility.
Garfield Knows Parents Leave a Mark
His concern about the responsibility does not appear to have materialised overnight. Andrew Garfield has previously spoken candidly about his own relationship with his father, Richard Garfield. During a 2014 interview, the actor acknowledged the complications that can exist between fathers and sons, saying he did not know a father-son relationship that had not struggled.
'Fathers do really have an ability to mess up their sons,' he said at the time.
With that history in mind, his worries about becoming a father sound less like fear of nappies and sleepless nights and more like an awareness that parents can occupy enormous space in a child's life. No pressure, then.
The Biggest Role Is Still Uncast
Garfield is currently linked to Top Gun: Maverick actress Monica Barbaro, with the pair reportedly dating since 2025. But his comments to Poehler were about his own feelings towards fatherhood rather than an announcement that children are immediately in the cards.
For now, the actor appears comfortable admitting that he has not figured everything out. Perhaps that's what made the exchange resonate. Garfield did not present fatherhood as another milestone waiting to be checked off. He described it as something that can change another human being's life, for better or worse.
Poehler may already be convinced he would be good at it. Meanwhile, Garfield is still contemplating the responsibility. If the actor ever decides to have kids, there's a good chance they'd be quite proud to have a superhero as a dad.
After years of playing characters asked to do extraordinary things, the role that scares him most apparently requires no costume, stunt double, or script: just one very small co-star and countless years of improvising.
