Years Before Spider-Man, Tom Holland's Forgotten Historical Drama Remains a Hidden Gem

In 2015, the same year Marvel handed Tom Holland the Spider-Man suit, he was doing some of the best television work of his career, though you probably didn’t see it. Decked out in a flat cap and fur collar, in rooms usually lit by just one candle, he plays Gregory Cromwell in BBC's Wolf Hall. Gregory is the son of Henry VIII's chief fixer, Oliver Cromwell (Mark Rylance), and his job for six episodes is mostly to watch his father ruin people's lives while trying to look like he's keeping up with all the cutthroat political scheming surrounding him. He isn't, but that's kind of the point. Holland spends the whole miniseries a half-step behind the adults in the room, and the result is the least Tom Holland performance Tom Holland has probably ever given.