Deadline brings word that Amazon's Spider-Noir has cast Boardwalk Empire star Jack Huston in a mysterious "bodyguard" role. No further details have been shared, though he could be playing anyone from an unnamed heavy to a new take on villains like Hammerhead and Tombstone.
He now joins a cast which will be led by Nicolas Cage (who is supposedly playing Ben Reilly in place of Peter Parker), Brendan Gleeson, Lamorne Morris, Abraham Popoola, and Li Jun Li.
HBO's Boardwalk Empire put Huston on the map, though the ill-fated Ben-Hur derailed his attempt to become a Hollywood leading man. The closest he's come to starring in a comic book project is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. His other credits include The Irishman, House of Gucci, and Fargo.
Spider-Noir will premiere on the MGM+ linear channel in the U.S. and globally on Prime Video.
Oren Uziel (Mortal Kombat) and Steve Lightfoot (The Punisher) are co-showrunners, while Harry Bradbeer is set to direct, and executive produce the first two episodes of the series.
In terms of plot details, we previously learned that the Prime Video series tells the story "of an ageing 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."
Few other official details about Spider-Noir have been revealed, though Cage has confirmed it was run for 8 episodes and pit the wall-crawling P.I. against monsters.
Asked about his first proper foray into television, Cage said, "I saw Bryan Cranston in 'Breaking Bad' stare at a suitcase for half the episode. I thought, 'We don’t have time to do that in movies.' So that to me seemed like an opportunity to open it up a little. I don’t know if the project [Noir] that I’m exploring has room for that. I think this is a much more sort of popcorn-entertainment episodic."
The actor would go on to describe Spider-Noir as "more of a Pop-art mashup, like a Lichtenstein painting" with "some sparkle to it."
"I don’t like violence," Cage added. "I don’t want to play people who are hurting people. One of the things that I like about this potential show is that it’s fantasy. It’s not really people beating people up. Monsters are involved."
Stay tuned for updates on Spider-Noir as we have them and let us know who you think Huston could be playing in the comments section below.