Nicolas Cage’s 'Spider-Noir' had everything going for it, so what went wrong at Prime Video?

Highlights

• Spider-Noir earned a 92% critics score and 90% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes
• The Nicolas Cage-led series received 11 Emmy nominations, the most of any Prime Video series this year
• It also accumulated 2.6 billion viewing minutes in its first six weeks
• Yet Prime Video has decided not to continue the show beyond its eight-episode first season
• The cancellation comes as Amazon continues developing other series from Sony’s Marvel universe

Nicolas Cage’s Spider-Noir appeared to have many of the ingredients streaming platforms usually want from a franchise show. It had a major Hollywood star, strong reviews, an established Marvel connection and enough awards recognition to earn 11 Emmy nominations.

It also attracted substantial viewing. The series reportedly accumulated 2.6 billion viewing minutes during its first six weeks. Yet, barely months after its May debut, Prime Video has decided not to move forward with a second season.

So what happened?

The streamer has not publicly explained the decision, which makes the cancellation more curious. On paper, Spider-Noir looks difficult to dismiss as a straightforward critical or audience failure.

the numbers tell a more complicated story

The show's reception was hardly disastrous. Spider-Noir scored 92% with critics and 90% with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, while its 11 Emmy nominations made it the most-nominated Prime Video series of 2026.

The viewing figures add another layer. The series generated 2.6 billion viewing minutes in its first six weeks, a sizeable figure for an eight-episode show.

But raw viewing minutes do not necessarily tell a streamer whether a series is worth another season. A platform also has to weigh how consistently audiences watch, how quickly interest falls after launch and how much it costs to produce and market the next instalment.

That may be where the apparently straightforward success story becomes more complicated.

Nicolas Cage’s Spider-Man experiment ends unusually early

The cancellation also cuts short what was a significant move for Cage. Spider-Noir marked his first regular television role, with the actor playing Ben Reilly, a down-on-his-luck private investigator and the only superhero in 1930s New York.

The series was designed as something distinct from the traditional Spider-Man formula, offering the character in a period-noir setting and giving viewers the unusual option of watching the story in colour or black and white.

That made the first season feel less like a conventional superhero spin-off and more like an experiment in how far Sony and Amazon could stretch the Spider-Man universe.

Now, that experiment ends after only eight episodes.

The timing raises another question for Marvel fans

There is another detail that makes the decision particularly interesting. Spider-Noir was the first project produced under the Sony Pictures Television and Amazon MGM Studios collaboration focused on expanding Sony's Marvel-related television universe.

Prime Video, however, has not abandoned that broader strategy. Reports indicate that another series from the Sony Marvel universe is being considered, meaning the decision appears to be about Spider-Noir specifically rather than a complete retreat from the partnership.

That leaves the biggest question unanswered: if the problem wasn't simply reviews, awards attention or the absence of an audience, what did Prime Video see that made a second season no longer worth pursuing?

For now, there is no official answer. But the cancellation suggests that even a well-reviewed, awards-recognised Marvel series with a major star and billions of viewing minutes can still fall short of whatever threshold a streaming platform has set for renewal.