After being rumored last week, Variety has confirmed that Academy Award-nominee Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin; Edge of Tomorrow; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) has joined the cast of Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios' upcoming Spider-Noir live-action series as the show's lead villain.
Further details on his role were unavailable, but it seems probable that he'll be playing Spider-Man Noir's archnemesis Norman Osborn, who in this universe is a ruthless crime lord, with a vast criminal empire that is involved in a variety of illegal enterprises, including, but not limited to, bootlegging, gambling, and human trafficking. His activities ultimately put him in the path of our hero, who, throughout the comic miniseries, is seeking to bring justice to the corrupt and crime-ridden streets of New York.
Gleeson joins a cast headlined by Academy Award-winner Nicolas Cage (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse; National Treasure; Ghost Rider) as the titular hero and Lamorne Morris (New Girl; Bloodshot; Game Night) as Robbie Robertson. Sandman has also been rumored to appear.
Spider-Noir will debut domestically on MGM+’s linear channel and then globally on Amazon Prime Video.
The show's official logline reads, "Spider-Noir, from executive producers/co-showrunners Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot, tells the story of an aging and down on his luck private investigator (Cage) in 1930s New York, who is forced to grapple with his past life as the city’s one and only superhero."
Both Oren Uziel (22 Jump Street; The Cloverfield Paradox; Mortal Kombat) and Steve Lightfoot (Hannibal; The Punisher; Behind Her Eyes) worked closely with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller to develop this new show, which has been ordered straight to series. Lord and Miller will also serve as executive producers on Spider-Noir alongside Amy Pascal.
Harry Bradbeer (Fleabag; Killing Eve; Enola Holmes) has been tapped to direct and executive produce the first two episodes.
Spider-Man Noir has become an increasingly popular Spider-Man variant since his debut in 2009 in the four-issue miniseries Spider-Man: Noir. He then appeared in the video games Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions and Spider-Man: Edge of Time, which only furthered his popularity amongst fans, and finally made his film debut in the Oscar-winning Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, where he was voiced by Cage.
With casting fully underway, we can expect filming to begin relatively soon, presumably before the end of the year, so expect a lot more casting news in the coming days/weeks, and stay locked into CBM for the latest as it happens.