Spider-Man star Tom Holland takes break from acting, says new show The Crowded Room 'broke him'; details inside

Marvel star Tom Holland says he is on a year-long break after working on a "difficult" series like The Crowded Room. The 27-year-old actor plays the role of Danny Sullivan in the Apple TV+ anthology show, which explores the true and inspirational stories of people who have struggled and learned to successfully live with mental illness.

Holland, who pulled double duty as producer on the first season of The Crowded Room, said backing the project just added to the pressure. "We were exploring certain emotions that I have definitely never experienced before. And then on top of that, being a producer, dealing with the day-to-day problems that come with any film set, just added that extra level of pressure. I'm now taking a year off, and that is a result of how difficult this show was," the Spider-Man: No Way Home star told entertainment magazine Extra.

While he is "no stranger to hard work" and "really enjoyed" working on this series, Holland admitted that "the show did break me". "There did come a time where it sort of was like, 'I need to have a break'. I am excited to see how it turns out, and I feel like our hard work wasn't in vain," he added.

The Crowded Room is a 10-episode limited series about a man who is arrested following his involvement in a New York City shooting in 1979. In the psychological thriller, Holland plays Danny Sullivan, a character based on Billy Mulligan, a man known as The Campus Rapist and the subject of a highly publicised court case in the late 1970s.

The first three episodes of the show will start streaming on Apple TV+ starting June 9 and release an episode a week every Friday after that until July 28.