Sam Raimi has been the driving force behind the Spider-Man movies for Sony since the first film came out in 2002. As successful as the films were, all indications showed that Spider-Man 3 would be the final film for Raimi as well as stars Toby Maguire and Kirsten Dunst. Shortly after the film opened, word leaked that all three might still be open to further sequels. In an interview printed at Comic Book Resources, Raimi discussed the future possibilities for the web-slinger.

Raimi first confirmed that, once the WGA strike is over, he will be working with a writer to develop the screen-play for Spider-Man 4, although he did say that he was unsure whether he would direct or produce the film.

Raimi also said that he wanted to avoid influencing the writer of the new film too much - both in terms of continuity with his films, and with the choice of villains.

On the subject of maintaining continuity with his three Spider-Man movies, Raimi said the following. "We're hiring a writer to come up with his own take. Sony was willing to go either way, we'll just have to wait and see what the writer comes up with. I think anything's possible, though. I mean, there's been so many different versions, it doesn't have to follow the movies that we've made. I'd very much like to see Tobey Maguire as Spider-Man, so I have a personal interest in that, but certainly anything's possible. Spider-Man's such a big character in the comic books that he could endure a lot of different interpretations. You could start over or you could start with a different aspect of the story than I've focused on in the pictures I've made, we'll just have to wait and see what the writer comes up with."

Raimi also maintained silence on the question of who Spider-Man should battle in the fourth film. "I'm trying to not voice an opinion on that, because I'm trying to let the new writer proceed unmolested by me. I want somebody who's got a really fresh take on the material, and I think that's what's best. I'm afraid to prejudice the decision making process right now by forcing my own desires upon them."

Finally, Raimi said that for him, his favorite version of Spider-Man is that of a teenager being forced to deal with life as a superhero. "He's most powerful to me as an adolescent. The thing that Stan Lee created that was so special was that he was a very young character, and he's a kid trying to deal with these fantastic powers."

to read the full interview, which also addresses the rumors of Raimi working on The Hobbit.