According to Dakota Johnson in an interview with The Wrap, the screenplay underwent extensive rewrites, saying, "There were drastic changes, and I can't even tell you what they were". The original screenplay, which was described as darker and "very 'Terminator' inspired," would have seen Madame Web and the Spider-Women trying to protect a pregnant Mary Parker from a time-traveling Ezekiel Sims, who wants to kill her to prevent the birth of Peter Parker. Johnson further said that the film she shot was "unrecognizable" from the version of the script she signed on to make.
Dakota Johnson said, "I've never really done a movie where you are on a blue screen, and there's fake explosions going off, and someone's going, 'Explosion!' and you act like there's an explosion. That, to me, was absolutely psychotic. I was like, 'I don't know if this is going to be good at all! I hope that I did an OK job!' But I trusted [director S.J. Clarkson]. She works so hard, and she has not taken her eyes off this movie since we started."
When asked by Bustle if the poor reviews for Madame Web (2024) bothered her, Dakota Johnson said: "Unfortunately, I'm not surprised that this has gone down the way it has." She added. "It's so hard to get movies made, and in these big movies that get made - and it's even starting to happen with the little ones, which is what's really freaking me out - decisions are being made by committees, and art does not do well when it's made by committee."
After the poor critical and financial reception following the film's release, a second, shorter trailer was released showcasing the characters in their superhero costumes, even though those scenes make up less than five minutes of the film's run time.
Dakota Johnson left her agency WME in favor of CAA less than a week after the first trailer for this movie dropped. According to Variety, this "raised industry eyebrows," and generated unfounded rumors that Johnson didn't like the movie, especially after she made fun of it while hosting Saturday Night Live (1975). However, the Hollywood Reporter found that, "since CAA was also willing to represent her production company, TeaTime Pictures, along with her indie film, Daddio (2023)," it is likely the seemingly suspicious timing for the move was nothing more than film-business shuffling.