Nicolas Cage doesn’t want Spider-Noir season 2: “It’s a perfect season”
Nicolas Cage has dampened hopes for more Spider-Noir, saying there’s a blunt reason he doesn’t think that story needs to continue.
Here's something you don't see every day — Nicolas Cage being, dare I say, more self-aware than most when it comes to playing a superhero on telly. Cage, who suited up as Ben Reilly for Spider-Noir on Prime Video, isn't desperate for a second season and, frankly, finds the idea of dragging things out a bit pointless. I know, an actor genuinely happy to leave it at a high point? Almost unheard of.
Here's how Cage explained his thinking to IGN: "No, no, I meant it when I said what I said, that it's a perfect season. You never want to get stuck repeating a character and wear out your welcome. Ben Reilly is so idiosyncratic. You know, I was doing something that was pretty high-risk tightrope stuff. You do that season two, season three, and you could really wear out your welcome. So when they didn't pick it up, I was like, I love that character, and I love that season, and it will always be there, and it will always be fresh."
First Time for Everything
This wasn't just any role for Cage — it actually marked his first major stab at a live-action TV series. Yes, for a bloke whose career is all over the Hollywood map, he's mostly kept to films. Stepping into a Marvel series as a proper long-form character, and not just breezing through for a cameo, was uncharted territory for him.
The show itself puts Ben Reilly in pre-war 1930s New York, scrapping his way through grief as a down-on-his-luck private eye who also happens to be the city's only superhero. In classic noir fashion, it mixes shadowy pasts with violent present — ideal for Cage doing, well, whatever it is only Cage can actually pull off. The series comes from Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot, who ran the thing and also got Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Amy Pascal (from the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse lot) on board to shape the tone and storylines.
All eight episodes of Spider-Noir dropped at once on Prime Video, and you can watch it either in monochrome to play up the hardboiled aesthetic, or with colour turned on if that sort of thing bothers you.
Who Else Shows Up?
The supporting cast wasn't exactly a bunch of extras either. Alongside Cage, you've got Lamorne Morris, Li Jun Li, Karen Rodriguez, Brendan Gleeson, Jack Huston, and Abraham Popoola in the mix. Not your everyday Marvel bench, but not to be sniffed at.
- Nicolas Cage as Ben Reilly
- Lamorne Morris
- Li Jun Li
- Karen Rodriguez
- Brendan Gleeson
- Jack Huston
- Abraham Popoola