Spider-Noir is an American superhero series developed by Oren Uziel for MGM+ and Prime Video. Based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Spider-Man Noir, the series follows an aging private investigator and superhero in 1930s New York City grappling with his past. Uziel and Steve Lightfoot serve as the series showrunners. Produced by Sony Pictures Television in association with Amazon MGM Studios, Spider-Noir is set in an alternate universe within the Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU) franchise.
Nicolas Cage stars as Ben Reilly / The Spider in his first lead role in a television series, with Lamorne Morris, Li Jun Li, Karen Rodriguez, Abraham Popoola, Jack Huston, and Brendan Gleeson also starring. Series development and Uziel's involvement were revealed in February 2023; Lightfoot was hired that December. Cage's casting was confirmed in May 2024, when the series was ordered and titled Noir before it was retitled Spider-Noir that July. Filming took place in Los Angeles from August 2024 to March 2025.
Spider-Noir was released in its entirety on May 25, 2026, on MGM+ in the United States, in color, and consists of eight episodes. The series was later released globally on Prime Video on May 27, in two versions stylized as Authentic Black and White and True-Hue Full Color. It received positive reviews from critics, with Cage's performance receiving particular praise. The series received 11 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning five. In September 2026, the series was canceled after one season.
Premise Ben Reilly, an aging private investigator, grapples with his past life as the only superhero in 1930s New York City, the Spider. When an exceptional case comes his way, Ben must become the Spider once more.
Cast and characters Main Nicolas Cage as Ben Reilly / The Spider:An older, grizzled version of Spider-Man who is a down on his luck private investigator and superhero from an alternate world based on 1930s New York City, who gained his superpowers when serving as a sergeant in World War I. He was bitten by a feral mutated human-spider while liberating soldiers from a German experimentation POW camp, changing his real name to the alias "Ben Reilly" after the war ended. He returns to being the Spider after stepping away from the role five years prior following his fiancée's murder. Executive producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller described Ben as "older and jaded, and not afraid to punch a guy in the face drunkenly" and someone who "already had his Chinatown disillusionment moment" many years prior, with co-showrunner Oren Uziel saying despite trying to move beyond his past, it keeps returning "to haunt him". Cage approached his performance as "70 percent Humphrey Bogart, and 30 percent Bugs Bunny", believing Ben was "a spider trying to cosplay as a human". He also looked at actors James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson for the performance. Cage was inspired by Bogart's performance in the film The Big Sleep (1946) when Ben goes undercover. Lamorne Morris as Joe "Robbie" Robertson:Ben's friend and a hard-working freelance journalist who pursues riskier stories to garner attention and progress his career. Uziel said Robbie is optimistic and "thinks he's lucky, and it's all going to work out" with his investigations, compared to Ben who is the opposite and a cynic. Li Jun Li as Cat Hardy:A femme fatale nightclub singer and love interest to both Ben and Flint Marko, who plots to kill Silvermane. Cat's character was inspired by actresses Anna May Wong, Rita Hayworth, Lauren Bacall, and Kim Basinger. Karen Rodriguez as Janet Ruiz:Ben's secretary and fellow investigator. Uziel likened Janet to Effie Perine from the film The Maltese Falcon (1941), a character "that can be helpful, that the P.I. can lean on, that can be hard on him, but loves him". Abraham Popoola as Lonnie Lincoln / Tombstone: Marko's friend and Silvermane's henchman, who possesses a near-indestructible armored crocodilia-like skin that grants him superhuman strength and durability. Jack Huston as Flint Marko / Sandman: Cat's bodyguard and lover who becomes Silvermane's henchman and has the ability to transform his own body into sand. Brendan Gleeson as Finbar "Finn" Byrne / Silvermane: An Irish mob boss with connections to Ben's past who has been the target of multiple assassination attempts. Gleeson described the character as a philosopher with "a drone-eye view" who is equally dangerous.
Recurring
Amanda Schull as Ruby J. Williams: Ben's deceased fiancée who was killed by a criminal Ben caught, prompting him to retire the Spider identity Lukas Haas as Winston: Silvermane's right-hand man Cary Christopher as Frankie: A young newsboy Ben and Janet take care of who also helps in their cases Jack Mikesell as James "Jimmy" Addison: A criminal with pyrokinesis abilities Cameron Britton as Patrick Donegal: A PI who briefly met Ben Michael Kostroff as Alfred Morris: The incumbent Mayor of New York City running for reelection while having to contend with Silvermane Scott MacArthur as Perry: One of Silvermane's henchmen Joe Massingill as Pudge: One of Silvermane's henchmen Richard Robichaux as Howard Walters: The editor of the Daily Bugle Whitney Rice as Vera Addison: Jimmy's widow who used his money for her lavish lifestyle Andrew Lewis Caldwell as Dirk Leyden / Megawatt: A criminal with the ability to absorb and release electricity Amy Aquino as Dr. Alethea Faber: A doctor trying to find a cure for the metahumans Andrew Robinson as Ogden Faber: Dr. Faber's secretary, later revealed to be her son who rapidly aged from the experiments that created the other superpowered. Kai Caster portrays a young Ogden.
Episodes
Production Development Sony Pictures Entertainment chairman Tony Vinciquerra stated in March 2019 that Sony's shared universe of Spider-Man–related properties, known as Sony's Spider-Man Universe (SSU), would be expanding to television with a set of Marvel Comics projects developed by Sony Pictures Television. The studio was "essentially internally auditioning" characters from the 900 it could access to decide which medium they would appear in. After their work on Sony's animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), Phil Lord and Christopher Miller signed their production company Lord Miller Productions to an overall deal with Sony Pictures Television in April 2019 to develop multiple television series for the studio, including their Marvel-based series, which could potentially include characters from Into the Spider-Verse as well as live-action properties. Select projects would be produced in conjunction with Amy Pascal, a frequent producer of the Spider-Man films, with the intention for Lord and Miller to reboot the Spider-Man property for television. By September 2020, Sony was in talks with Prime Video for the latter to be the streaming distributor for Sony's "suite" of Marvel-based television series.
Sony Pictures Television was revealed in February 2023 to be developing a television series based on the Spider-Man Noir character for MGM+ and Prime Video via Amazon MGM Studios. This version of the character is from a different universe than the one seen in the Spider-Verse animated films. Miller believed a series based on the character was "the biggest no-brainer of all time". Oren Uziel, a close friend of Lord and Miller's who was a fan of film noir, was writing for the series and developing it with fellow executive producers Lord, Miller, and Pascal through their production companies Lord Miller Productions and Pascal Pictures. Miller said Uziel had a "perfect" take on approaching the series. In December, Amazon hired Steve Lightfoot, who was the showrunner of the Marvel Television series The Punisher (2017–2019), to serve as co-showrunner and an executive producer alongside Uziel; the two are credited as the series' developers along with Lord, Miller, and Pascal.
Amazon announced at its upfronts presentation in May 2024 that the series had been ordered and titled Noir, and that Harry Bradbeer had joined as an executive producer and would direct the first two episodes. Nzingha Stewart served as another director. Additional executive producers are Aditya Sood and Dan Shear of Lord Miller, star Nicolas Cage, and Pavlina Hatoupis. In July, the series was retitled Spider-Noir to better highlight its connections to the Spider-Man universe, and was revealed to consist of eight 45-minute long episodes. Lesley Goldberg at Puck reported in August 2024 that Sony was not expected to renew its overall deal with Lord and Miller after the duo disagreed with the studio on the series' budget. By the end of 2024, Sony was reported to no longer be developing further films for its franchise at that time and was instead focusing on other projects, such as Spider-Noir.
In April 2026, Uziel was excited to potentially explore World War II as a setting for a possible second season as well as moving the series to a different setting, adding that centering the series around a private detective, "all it takes is a knock on the office door and a new client walks in… I really feel like this is a great jumping-off point to expand your story." In September 2026, the series was cancelled after one season. Following the series' cancellation, Uziel reiterated his thoughts about telling a story in another season around World War II and said new locations could have included Los Angeles or Europe, which would have allowed the creatives to reference the various noirs from those locations.
Writing Christopher Chen, Megan Liao, Tori Sampson, Jennifer Frazin, Jack Henderson, and Bruce Marshall Romans served as writers on the series, alongside Uziel and Lightfoot; Romans previously worked with Lightfoot on The Punisher. Miller said in May 2023 that development, along with the writers' room, was put on hold because of the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike that began earlier that month, and that work would resume after the strike concluded; the writers' strike ended in late September 2023.
Spider-Noir is set in an alternate world based on 1930s New York City, with Sony Pictures Television president Katherine Pope describing the series as a reimagining of the Spider-Man Noir character in the SSU. Upon the reveal of the series' development, Variety reported that it would be set in its own universe and that the series would focus on a different main character rather than Peter Parker, who is the identity of Spider-Man Noir in the comics. The main character is known as Ben Reilly, the name of a separate character in the comics who is a clone of Peter Parker and becomes the Scarlet Spider. The Reilly in Spider-Noir is not known as "Spider-Noir", but rather "The Spider" as a way to harken back to some of the early crimefighters in comics such as the Spirit and the Shadow. Uziel said one of the reasons for changing the name of the character from Parker to Reilly was to better fit with the series' noir tone, saying that "Peter Parker feels very synonymous with a high school kid. Boyish." Lord and Miller also said there were additional narrative reasons for changing the name that would be addressed in the series, while Cage said Spider-Noir would explain why Reilly "talks the way he talks" beyond "just mashing the flavors of 1930s film performance and Marvel iconography". Deadline Hollywood reported the name was changed because of the character's television rights.
Casting