It was a dark and stormy night for “Spider-Noir.” The Prime Video/MGM+ series, starring Nicolas Cage in his first-ever regular TV role, has been canceled after eight episodes and won’t return for a Season 2.
The news comes even as “Spider-Noir” heads into the first weekend of Emmy ceremonies with 11 nominations — the most of any Prime Video program this year. The series also has a solid 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (and a 90% “popcornmeter” vote among fans).
“Spider-Noir” was the first Marvel-related series to premiere out of Amazon’s pact with Sony Pictures TV to develop characters and stories from the “Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters.”
Sony notes that its oversight includes more than 900 Marvel characters associated with the Spider-Man franchise. The second series to come out of that partnership is already in development and is expected to be announced soon.
“Spider-Noir” was based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man Noir, and was adapted for television by Oren Uziel. The series takes place during the Great Depression and stars Cage as Ben Reilly, “a seasoned, down-on-his-luck private investigator in 1930s New York, who is forced to grapple with his past life following a deeply personal tragedy, as the city’s one and only superhero.”
Lamorne Morris (“New Girl”), Li Jun Li (“Sinners”), Karen Rodriguez (“The Hunting Wives”), Abraham Popoola (“Atlas”), Jack Huston (“Boardwalk Empire”), and Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) also star.
Uziel (“The Lost City”) and Steve Lightfoot (“Marvel’s The Punisher”) are showrunners and executive producers. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller executive produce for Lord Miller, along with Aditya Sood and Dan Shear. Amy Pascal is executive producer via Pascal Pictures. Cage and Pavlina Hatoupis are also executive producers. Harry Bradbeer (“Fleabag”) directed and executive produced the first two episodes.
“Spider-Noir” originally premiered on the linear MGM+ channel on May 25, and then started streaming on Prime Video the next day — with options to watch the show in either color or black & white. According to Nielsen’s streaming content ratings, the series earned 2.6 billion viewing minutes in its first six weeks.
Among the show’s 11 Emmy nominations: Outstanding Production Design For A Narrative Period Or Fantasy Program (One Hour Or More), Outstanding Title Design, Outstanding Sound Mixing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One Hour), Outstanding Sound Editing For A Comedy Or Drama Series (One Hour), Outstanding Cinematography For A Series (One Hour), Outstanding Stunt Performance, Outstanding Music Composition For A Series (Original Dramatic Score), Outstanding Special Visual Effects In A Single Episode, Outstanding Stunt Coordination For Comedy Programming, Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup, and Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics.
As for Amazon’s deal to develop multiple live-action shows based on the Marvel characters controlled by Sony, the first project originally greenlit was “Silk: Spider Society,” with Angela Kang as showrunner, but that show was later scrapped. That meant “Spider-Noir” instead was the first release under the arrangement.
In film, Sony has released multiple Spider-Man live-action films over the years and currently works with Marvel Studios on the franchise starring Tom Holland via Columbia Pictures. The studio is currently riding high with “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” which just hit $900 million at the box office domestically, and more than $2.3 billion globally.