Andrew Garfield

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo struck a deal with state lawmakers to license new resort-style casinos, in an effort to help revive a stagnant economy in upstate New York, the governor said on Wednesday.

Despite shooting a handful of scenes as Mary Jane Watson in Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Shailene Woodley will not be appearing in the superhero sequel after all, the studio confirms. The Mary Jane character – the most famous of Peter Parker’s comic book love interests – will instead be pushed to the third film so that the rebooted franchise can focus on the relationship between Peter (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) first established in 2012′s The Amazing Spider-Man. “I made a creative decision to streamline the story and focus on Peter and Gwen and their relationship,” director Marc Webb explained in a statement. “Shailene is an incredibly talented actress and while we only shot a few scenes with Mary Jane, we all love working with her.” It’s unclear if Woodley’s already-filmed scenes will be saved for use in the third film, which has a ways to go before it hits theaters in 2016. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is currently in production and set to hit theaters May 2, 2014. This week Sony dated the third and fourth installments in the series for June 10, 2016 and May 4, 2018.