‘Spider-Noir’ Boss on What Season 2 Would’ve Looked Like and the Canceled Show’s ‘Bittersweet’ Five Emmy Wins (EXCLUSIVE)
by Michael Schneider · VarietyOn Friday, Amazon’s Prime Video announced that “Spider-Noir” wouldn’t be back for a Season 2. Two days later, the series landed five wins at the Emmys Night 2 ceremony.
According to awards gurus who track these things, that’s the most Emmy wins ever for a series canceled after its first season. (“Lovecraft Country” in 2020 and “My World And Welcome to It” in 1969 each had two wins.)
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With that Emmy success, could the streamer or Sony Pictures TV reverse course and bring “Spider-Noir” back, or would Sony try to shop it elsewhere? Co-creator and showrunner Oren Uziel isn’t so sure.
“We haven’t gotten there yet,” Uziel said of any attempts to revive “Spider-Noir.” “I literally do not know the legalities and complications of that. But I expect that it’s a complicated proposition.”
If there had been a Season 2, Uziel was already kicking around some ideas. For starters, Ben Reilly (played by Nicolas Cage), who keeps his powers as the Spider at the end of Season 1, could easily take on a new case.
“If I had my druthers, it would be probably another location,” Uziel said. “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.”
Season 1 of “Spider-Noir” was set in New York, but shot in Los Angeles. So the idea of the setting actually moving out West isn’t too far-fetched. “L.A. for L.A., how great would that be?” Uziel said.
When reached on Wednesday, Uziel was still on a bit of a high from the Emmy wins.
“It’s my first TV show, so it was my first Emmys experience,” he said. “We had 11 nominations, which meant we had 11 groups of crew members there. It felt like everybody that I had made the show with was there, because they kind of were. Even the people who weren’t nominated showed up! It felt like a giant family together there to celebrate.”
But the timing of Friday’s announcement was a bit unfortunate: It meant that the show’s crew had already just been hit with bad news — would losing the Emmy sting even more? Turns out he didn’t have to worry.
“I thought it was going to be disappointing timing at first,” Uziel said. “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.”
That started with the show’s first win of the night, for stunt performance. But then it kept on winning: For sound editing for a comedy or drama series (one hour), title design, special visual effects in a single episode and cinematography for a series (one hour).
“When we won an award, we all got very excited and then, it started to snowball,” Uziel said. “It felt like when you’re at a softball game for your kids, and you just want them to get hits. Then they start to get hits, so you start to feel good about it.”
At the same time, the wins were bittersweet: “Making this show was the best experience of my professional life and we all got to make exactly what we set out to make. My biggest regret about not having another season is that I don’t get to do it again with these people. Like I don’t have the show or the movie lined up to get everybody back together.”
Uziel is very zen about the news. “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. 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.”
In fact, Uziel enjoyed the “Spider-Noir” process so much that even without the show, he’s looking to try to get the crew and stars back on another project.
“It’s finding something fun and juicy and unexpected and singular to work with this crew on again,” he said. “What happened on Sunday [with the Emmy wins] is not a huge surprise because they’re all so good at what they do. They all elevated everything that I wanted to do and I became better for working with them. So it’s finding another thing and then gathering the troops and having a good time again.”
And yes, that includes reuniting with Cage.
“We’ve talked a bit and we feel the same way,” he said. “It’s sad to not do this again, but we also got to do exactly what we set out to do. And he’s such a star. He’s such a leading man. To make these eight episodes, his first TV show, was just a dream. So I would love to do it again with Nic.”
In announcing the end of “Spider-Noir,” Prime Video and Sony said they were close to picking up the next series in the world of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. But Uziel won’t be involved.
“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.”
As for the fans, Uziel suggested they go back and watch the eight-episode season again. Because the show was offered in both color and black & white, he thinks viewers should try the format they didn’t watch the first time around.
“It was about making something that the fans of Spider-Man and noir would love,” he said. “So I’m deeply appreciative. I’d also watch it again. There’s so much in there, there’s so many layers. It’s black and white. It’s color.”
Also, Uziel admitted he doesn’t love the term “canceled” since he considered Season 1 to be a self-contained story.
“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.’”