We first learned of plans for Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man - which was then titled Spider-Man: Freshman Year - in November 2021. Disney+ didn't start promoting the Marvel Animation series until a month before the show's launch and we've now learned of its unique release schedule.
On January 29, we're getting a two-episode premiere. There's nothing strange about that, but the following week, February 5, will see us get three episodes on the same day. That's also the case on February 12 before the series wraps up on February 19 with two instalments.
So, yeah, the streamer plans to blast through the entire 10-episode series in four weeks. On the one hand, this is bound to be welcomed by fans who can enjoy Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man over a month rather than nine or ten weeks.
On the other, it feels a little like Disney+ is rushing the series out because the sooner it's seen, the sooner it will be forgotten. That's only speculation for now but the same approach was taken with Echo, a series which was dumped on the streamer in its entirety and has rarely been talked about since.
We certainly hope that's not the case with Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man, though we should point out that the review embargo doesn't lift until the show premieres at 12am PT/3am ET.
The odds are already stacked about the series as it needs to compete with Spider-Man: The Animated Series and The Spectacular Spider-Man. How it will compare to those remains to be seen.
"Peter Parker has many friends over the years but Peter and Nico Minoru as best friends? That’s new, that’s unique and that immediately changes your perception of his world, because it changes Peter’s perception as well," Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man showrunner Jeff Trammell recently explained. "The same goes for Harry and Norman Osborn, Lonnie Lincoln, and so on."
"These are characters you may know but not necessarily the ones you’re familiar with, which again, allows us to go down a familiar avenue but in an entirely unexpected way," he added.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man follows Peter Parker on his way to becoming a hero, with a journey unlike we've ever seen and a style that celebrates the character’s early comic book roots.
The talented voice cast includes Hudson Thames, Colman Domingo, Eugene Byrd, Grace Song, Zeno Robinson, Hugh Dancy and Charlie Cox.
The head writer is Jeff Trammell and Mel Zwyer is the supervising director. Brad Winderbaum, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt and Trammell serve as executive producers.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man premieres on Disney+ on January 29, 2025.