The unexpected cancellation of Spider-Noir has sparked a major industry conversation, thanks to star Nicolas Cage drawing a hard line against AI.
During his appearance at New York Comic Con, the Oscar winner revealed that his decision to reject an AI waiver during production on the Prime Video and MGM+ series likely marks the end of his relationship with the studio.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, Cage said, “How do you survive AI? Amazon is a very AI-friendly company, to the tune of 50 billion dollars invested to OpenAI. I am not an AI-friendly actor. I didn’t sign the waiver to let them use AI on Spider-Noir. It’s kind of like I’m probably not going to be working with that studio again. But that’s OK.”
He continued to explain, “So I got to get with these young directors who are Gen Z, and they’re going at it their own way, whether it’s through the YouTube culture or whatever it is. They’re doing it from scratch and by hand. I want to get with that.”
In the canceled Spider-Noir series, Cage played Ben Reilly, a struggling private investigator in 1930s New York who had to confront his past after a devastating personal loss. He operated as the city’s sole superhero. Alongside Cage, Lamorne Morris, Li Jun Li, Karen Rodriguez, Abraham Popoola, Jack Huston, and Brendan Gleeson were part of the main cast.
Why did Prime Video cancel Spider-Noir after one season?
The abrupt cancellation was indeed a surprise to fans, considering the hype around the Prime Video series and its performance metrics. On Rotten Tomatoes alone, it scored 92% critical approval and 89% approval from general audiences. The series also bagged 11 Emmy nominations in 2026, more than any other Prime Video series this year, taking home five trophies before it got canceled.
The combination of Marvel IP and Cage’s star power provided a strong opening for the show as it premiered at No. 2 on Nielsen’s U.S. Top 10 for original series, generating 851 million viewing minutes in its first week.
According to Deadline, over the course of six weeks, American audiences had watched around 2.6 billion minutes of the series, as per the Nielsen Streaming Content Ratings.
But the series didn’t take long to slip off Prime Video’s daily Top 10 rankings. Noting that the series lacked the staying power required for renewal, Amazon executives reportedly decided to pull the plug on it. Plus, cost played a decisive role in the final call, since the filming of both color and black-and-white versions of the show made the project expensive.
Season 1 of Spider-Noir remains available to stream on Prime Video.