Spider-Noir arrives on Prime Video next month, and if the series succeeds, it may be the first of many small-screen offerings revolving around Peter Parker's doppelgangers.
There was a Silk TV show in active development for a time (it ultimately fell apart), and beyond that, we haven't heard anything official about other characters who could swing onto streaming. However, Spider-Noir showrunner Oren Uziel has told SFX Magazine that several unannounced Spider-Man projects are being developed.
"I’m focused on Spider-Noir, but I know there are others in the works," he revealed. "I’ve talked a bit to the people working on them, and I think they are very exciting. They’re following a little bit of that same formula [as Spider-Noir], that same idea of taking a genre and elevating it by putting a Spider-variant into it. It opens up a whole new world, and it’s just an extremely exciting opportunity."
We know that animated Spider-Gwen and Spider-Punk movies are in the works, but it doesn't seem like Uziel is referring to them. Instead, based on how these comments are framed, he appears to be referring to other live-action series in the same vein as Spider-Noir.
Nicolas Cage's hard-boiled version of Peter Parker was a breakout character in 2018's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and the hope was that a spin-off might follow. What we didn't expect was for it to be a live-action TV series, with Peter Parker switched out for Ben Reilly.
In case it wasn't obvious, the show doesn't explore the origin or continue the story of the animated Spider-Man Noir. Instead, as Uziel puts it, Nicolas Cage is playing a "variant of a variant."
"The character in the show is not the same as the character from both the comics and the animated movie," he explained. "A big part of it was I have seen the high-school story of Peter Parker many times. It’s been done really well and it’s continuing to be done really well. And then Phil and Chris did the Miles Morales version. For me, it was a way to tell our own take."
Spider-Noir looks wholly original, with its offbeat first trailer spawning some wild theories from fans. One of the most noteworthy is the possibility that much of what we'll see—like the web-slinging and superpowered villains—is all in Ben's head. There may also be a supernatural element.
Time will tell on those fronts, but if nothing else, the mashup of comic book action and a hard-boiled detective story should make this a series unlike any other Spider-Man story we've seen on screen.
Spider-Noir's cast includes Academy Award-winning actor Nicolas Cage (Adaptation), Emmy Award-winning actor Lamorne Morris (New Girl), Li Jun Li (Sinners), Karen Rodriguez (The Hunting Wives), Abraham Popoola (Atlas), with SAG Award-winning actor Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire), and Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated actor Brendan Gleeson (The Banshees of Inisherin).
Guest stars include Lukas Haas, Cameron Britton, Cary Christopher, Michael Kostroff, Scott MacArthur, Joe Massingill, Whitney Rice, Amanda Schull, Andrew Caldwell, Amy Aquino, Andrew Robinson, and Kai Caster.
Spider-Noir is produced by Sony Pictures Television exclusively for MGM+ and Prime Video. Emmy Award-winning director Harry Bradbeer (Fleabag, Killing Eve) directed and executive produced the first two episodes.
Emmy Award winner Harry Bradbeer (Fleabag, Killing Eve) directed and executive produced the first two episodes. Oren Uziel (The Lost City, 22 Jump Street) and Steve Lightfoot (Marvel's The Punisher, Shantaram) serve as co-showrunners and executive producers.
Uziel and Lightfoot developed the series with the Academy Award–winning team behind Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Amy Pascal. Lord and Miller executive produce, with Aditya Sood and Dan Shear. Amy Pascal also serves as an executive producer through Pascal Pictures.
All episodes of Spider-Noir premiere on Prime Video on May 27.