Phil Lord & Chris Miller Talk Live-Action SPIDER-MAN Offer, Scrapped FLASH Movie, and BEYOND THE SPIDER-VERSE Progress
Phil Lord and Chris Miller have built a career on jumping between genres From the chaotic comedy of 21 Jump Street to the animated magic of The LEGO Movie and now the ambitious sci-fi of Project Hail Mary, the duo keeps finding ways to surprise audiences.
Of course, for a lot of fans, their defining work is still the Spider-Verse franchise, which has completely reshaped what superhero storytelling can look like on screen.
So when they start talking about Spider-Man, The Flash, and what’s next for Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, it’s hard not to lean in.
During a recent conversation, Phil Lord and Chris Miller confirmed something fans have long suspected. They were, at one point, offered a shot at a live-action Spider-Man movie.
Miller simply said, "Yes," before adding, "As you know, we love Spider-Man. We're fans of the character." He stopped short of revealing which project it was, but Lord jumped in with a bit of humor, saying, "I would say, I would long to have the headspace available for another one of those. things."
They clearly love the character, but they’re also aware of how massive and consuming those projects can be. Given how deeply involved they already are with the animated side of the Spider-Verse, it makes sense they didn’t jump into another version of the same sandbox.
The conversation then drifted into one of the more fascinating “what if” scenarios with DC. Before The Flash finally hit theaters in 2023, Lord and Miller had developed their own take on the Scarlet Speedster, and according to them, it was something completely different.
Miller shared, "a very elaborate treatment that we really like," while Lord added that it was "pretty different" from what audiences eventually saw. He also admitted, "It's a good idea that I am afraid to not be able to use someday," which is about as close as we’ll get to details for now.
Of course, the biggest update fans are waiting for revolves around Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, the long-anticipated conclusion to Miles Morales’ animated trilogy. After some concern over delays, Miller offered a reassuring update.
"We are still on schedule for next June. It's going great. The story is coming along great. The animation is beautiful, and we've ported some interesting stuff over from Project Hail Mary."
Bringing techniques from a live-action sci-fi production into an animated film sounds like it could be interesting.
Miller went deeper into that process, explaining, "That digital pre-shoot that we did with Greig [Fraser]. We are doing that methodology for the camera work with DP Alice Brooks, and she's been doing an amazing job. It's revolutionising how we can get the camera work to be super inventive and natural feeling."
If Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse already pushed animation into new territory, it sounds like this next chapter is aiming even higher.
And emotionally, it’s going to hit harder too. The filmmakers confirmed that this third installment is the "most emotional of the three movies," which tracks considering where things left off with Miles.
As for the future of the Spider-Verse beyond this trilogy, things are a bit more mysterious. There have been ongoing rumors about spin-offs centered on Spider-Gwen and Spider-Punk, and while Lord didn’t get into specifics, he did confirm that "things are moving."
At the same time, he made it clear that the core Spider-Verse story wraps up with Beyond the Spider-Verse, suggesting these offshoots may exist as their own separate expansions.
They also dropped a fun detail about Spider-Noir, the upcoming Prime Video series, revealing that Nicolas Cage will be playing Ben Reilly "like a spider pretending to be a person." That sounds like it’s going to lean into the weird in all the right ways.
One thing that came through consistently in the conversation is that Lord and Miller aren’t chasing every major franchise opportunity that comes their way. They’ve had those experiences, including their well-documented exit from Solo: A Star Wars Story, and it seems to have shaped how they approach projects now.
They’re more interested in working on projects where they can really bring something new to the table. It’ll be cool and interesting to see what other projects they’ve got cooking that we don’t even know about yet.