‘Spider-Noir’ Canceled by Prime Video After One Season
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Amazon's Prime Video has cancelled "Spider-Noir" after just one eight-episode season, ending the Nicolas Cage-led drama despite strong critical acclaim and a leading 11 Emmy nominations for a Prime Video series this year. The decision is notable because the show holds a 92% critics' score and 90% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it an unusually well-reviewed casualty, and it marked Cage's first regular television role. "Spider-Noir" was also significant as the first series to emerge from Amazon's partnership with Sony Pictures TV to adapt characters from Sony's Marvel universe, following the earlier scrapping of a planned series called "Silk: Spider Society"; a second show from that partnership is already in development.
Based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man Noir, the series was set in 1930s Depression-era New York and starred Cage as private investigator Ben Reilly, alongside Lamorne Morris, Li Jun Li and Brendan Gleeson, with Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot as showrunners. It premiered on linear channel MGM+ on 25 May before moving to Prime Video the next day, and racked up 2.6 billion streaming minutes in its first six weeks, according to Nielsen. Its 11 Emmy nominations spanned categories including production design, cinematography, stunt performance and music composition. Sony continues to control the wider Spider-Man film franchise through Marvel Studios' Tom Holland-led films, with "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" recently passing $900 million domestically and $2.3 billion worldwide.
- Prime Video cancels "Spider-Noir" after one season despite acclaim
- Show earned 11 Emmy nominations and 92% Rotten Tomatoes score
- Was first series from Amazon-Sony Marvel characters partnership
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Amazon's Prime Video has ended "Spider-Noir" after just one season, even though the show was widely praised and picked up 11 Emmy nominations, more than any other Prime Video series this year. It starred Nicolas Cage, in his first regular TV role, as a private detective in a 1930s New York setting, based on a Marvel Comics character called Spider-Man Noir. The show also had strong scores from critics and viewers alike, which makes its cancellation unusual by industry standards.
The series mattered beyond its own storyline because it was the first result of a partnership between Amazon and Sony Pictures Television, set up to bring characters from Sony's Marvel-related universe to the screen. That partnership had already seen one earlier project, "Silk: Spider Society," dropped before release, so "Spider-Noir" was seen as an important early test of the arrangement.
Sony has a large pool of Spider-Man-related characters it can draw on for future shows, and has said another series from the Amazon partnership is already being developed. This background helps explain why the cancellation is being discussed not just as the end of one show, but as a signal about how that wider Sony-Amazon collaboration is going.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The cancellation represents a puzzling decision given the series' demonstrable success by conventional measures: it maintained a 92% critical score and 90% audience approval, garnered 11 Emmy nominations, and achieved 2.6 billion streaming minutes in its first six weeks. For a prestige drama marking both Nicolas Cage's television debut and the inaugural project of Amazon's partnership with Sony on Marvel properties, such metrics ordinarily justify renewal, suggesting the platform may be prioritising short-term cost-cutting over the quality programming that builds lasting subscriber value.
The case against
Streaming platforms evaluate content renewals through a more complex calculus than public metrics reveal, weighing production costs against per-subscriber acquisition and retention value, with cancellation decisions often reflecting strategic priorities beyond critical reception or viewership figures. Whilst the show's Emmy recognition and Rotten Tomatoes scores are commendable, they do not necessarily indicate the subscriber lifetime value or cost-efficiency required to justify continued investment when platforms are under pressure to demonstrate profitability and optimise spending across their entire catalogue.