SPIDER-NOIR Showrunner Reveals Scrapped Season 2 Plans Following the Show’s Shock Cancelation
Prime Video pulled the plug on Spider-Noir after only one season, but showrunner Oren Uziel already had ideas about where Nicolas Cage’s Ben Reilly could have gone next. Apparently, New York City was only the beginning.
The cancelation came down last Friday, with Prime Video deciding against moving forward with Season 2. The series was expensive to produce and didn’t attract enough viewers to justify another season, despite earning a largely positive response from fans and critics.
The timing made the decision particularly rough. Just two days after the cancelation news broke, Spider-Noir picked up five awards at the 78th Primetime Creative Arts Emmys.
The series also managed something pretty special by getting Nicolas Cage to return to the Spider-Noir world after voicing the character in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. This wasn’t technically the same version of the character, but it gave Cage the chance to bring his noir-flavored superhero into live-action.
Speaking with Variety following the cancelation, Uziel was asked whether Spider-Noir could potentially find another home. He doesn’t sound too confident that such a move would be simple.
"We haven’t gotten there yet," he started. "I literally do not know the legalities and complications of that. But I expect that it’s a complicated proposition."
Before Prime Video made its decision, Uziel had already been thinking about where Season 2 could take Ben Reilly. His ideas involved getting out of New York, exploring other styles of noir, and pushing the story closer to World War II.
"If I had my druthers, it would be probably another location," he shared. "There are so many L.A. noirs we could have dove into. There are European noirs we could have dove into. There are other places to go.
“You’re starting in 1933. Where is that heading? It’s heading toward just a most cataclysmic time — World War II. There was a lot of storytelling that could have happened there."
That could have been a really cool direction for the series. Moving Ben Reilly through different locations and different eras of noir would have allowed each season to have its own identity while keeping Cage’s grizzled private investigator at the center of it all.
Los Angeles would have been an especially practical option since Spider-Noir was already filmed there. As for having the show canceled immediately before its big Emmy night, Uziel admitted he initially worried the news would put a cloud over what should have been a celebration for everyone who worked on the series. Instead, the five wins helped the cast and crew enjoy what they had accomplished.
"I thought it was going to be disappointing timing at first. I didn’t want people to go to this big night on Sunday having to worry or think about something disappointing or sad. But the truth is, it became kind of a big celebration of what we accomplished together."
There’s also one thing making the cancelation a little easier for Uziel to accept. Season 1 wasn’t built around a cliffhanger designed to force another season. The creative team approached it like a complete noir mystery with a beginning and an ending.
"We made a very closed-ended show. There’s a reason we were honoring these old noirs. The story begins when the client comes into the private detective’s office, and it ends when they solve the case," he continued.
"So, it was nicely buttoned up. We told a story. It felt a little bit like a long movie. So, it’s bittersweet to not get right back to work with this cast and crew. But also, I have no regrets."
Uziel also addressed the economics behind making a show like Spider-Noir, while taking a shot at reports claiming the series carried an enormous $400 million price tag.
"We told a story, and it’s like, 'Do you want to invest in spending the money?' These things are expensive. Not nearly as expensive as the internet keeps claiming it was, by the way. People keep saying it was $400 million. I was like, 'Wow! That would be great.'"
For fans hoping Uziel might simply jump over to Amazon and Sony’s next live-action Spider-Man-related TV project, that isn’t currently happening. After encouraging viewers to rewatch Spider-Noir, the showrunner confirmed he isn’t involved with the next series being developed by the two companies.
He’d still be interested in lending a hand if the opportunity came up. "They have people working on all those things," he said. "I would always love to advise and take part because I loved it. I know like what the challenges are and what the rewards can be."
Spider-Noir is based on Marvel’s Spider-Man Noir comics and follows Ben Reilly, played by Cage, a worn-down private investigator trying to survive 1930s New York. A personal tragedy forces Ben to confront his former life as the city’s only superhero, mixing classic detective noir with Marvel superhero storytelling.
It’s a bummer that we won’t get to see Cage’s Ben Reilly dropped into World War II or another noir-soaked city. At least Season 1 was designed to stand on its own, and five Emmy wins certainly isn’t a bad way for Spider-Noir to take its final bow.