Prime Video’s Spider-Noir swings onto our screens later this year. Here’s everything you need to know about the upcoming series.
Marvel’s Spider-Man is one of the most ubiquitous characters in all of superhero culture. Over the years, we’ve seen so many interpretations of web slingers on our screens, especially within the animated Spider-Verse movies. But Spider-Noir is a live-action Spidey unlike anything we’ve seen before. Coming to Prime Video later this year, Nicolas Cage takes to our screens as Spider-Noir.
Cage voiced Spider-Noir in the animated Spider-Verse movies, becoming a fan-favorite star in the process. The upcoming live-action series consists of eight episodes, taking place in the 1930s-era New York, following Ben Reilly, an older, down-on-his-luck private investigator who’s the city’s only protector. Check out the trailer:
The series is developed by Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot, alongside the award-winning team behind Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Amy Pascal. The first two episodes are directed by Harry Bradbeer (Fleabag, Killing Eve).
Speaking to Esquire, showrunner Oren Uziel, Nicolas Cage, and producer Chris Lord weighed in on the series. Notably, Uziel teased where our titular character Ben Reilly stands at the beginning of the series. “Ben Reilly has already gone through the entire arc and has seen it all,” he said. “He’s over it, and trying to move past it. But his past kind of keeps coming back to haunt him. It’s just a different version that we haven’t seen before.”
Of course, the web-slinger viewers know best is Peter Parker. However, Ben Reilly is inherently different. “Peter Parker feels very synonymous with a high school kid. Boyish. On his way up,” Uziel explained.
“This character’s very different from the Peter Parker from the movies. He’s older and jaded, and not afraid to punch a guy in the face drunkenly,” Miller added.
Spider-Noir is unique in that it can be experienced in both colour and a 1930s film noir black-and-white aesthetic. This deliberate creative choice gives puts the decision in the hands of the viewer. “The truth is, they both work and they’re beautiful for different reasons,” Cage explained. “The color is super saturated and gorgeous. I think teenage viewers will appreciate the color, but I also want them to have the option. If they want to experience the concept in black and white, maybe that would instill some interest in them to look at earlier movies and enjoy that as an art form as well.”
Who Has Been Cast in Spider-Noir?
Alongside Nicolas Cage, other series regular cast members are: Karen Rodriguez as Janet, Lamorne Morris as Robbie Robertson, and Li Jun Li as Cat Hardy.
The full cast list is below:
- Lamorne Morris (New Girl)
- Li Jun Li (Quantico)
- Karen Rodriguez (The Hunting Wives)
- Abraham Popoola (The Great)
- Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire)
- Brendan Gleeson (Braveheart, Harry Potter)
- Lukas Haas (Witness)
- Cameron Britton (Mindhunter)
- Cary Christopher (Weapons)
- Michael Kostroff (The Wire, Hit List)
- Scott MacArthur (Running Point, The Mick)
- Joe Massingill (In My Dreams)
- Whitney Rice (Dury Duty)
- Amanda Schull (12 Monkeys)
- Andrew Caldwell (College, iZombie)
- Amy Aquino (Brooklyn Bridge)
- Andrew Robinson (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
- Kai Caster (Do Not Enter)
Who are the villains in Spider-Noir?
The Esquire article confirms that Brendan Gleeson will be playing a villain, “a gangland boss known as Silvermane.” In addition, Jack Huston is down to play Flint Marko, better known as iconic Spider-Man villain Sandman.
“He’s a guy getting dragged into a much larger fight that he doesn’t really want to be a part of. Silvermane is the big bad, but what’s happening to Silvermane connects back to Ben’s past and gets him spiraling deeper and deeper into his own origins,” Uziel teased.
When does Spider-Noir release on Prime Video?
Spider-Noir debuts May 27 on Prime Video.
