Nicolas Cage has spoken up about his refusal to sign a waiver to let Amazon use AI on Spider-Noir, hinting at a reason for the immensely popular show’s cancellation after just one season, while also dismissing any likelihood of future projects with the studio.
During a Saturday panel on the Empire Stage at New York Comic Con, the actor told the crowd, “Amazon is a very AI-friendly company, to the tune of $50 billion invested in OpenAI,” as reported by Variety. “I didn’t sign the waiver to let him use AI on Spider-Noir. I’m probably not going to be working with that studio again, but that’s okay.”
Pointing out a possible reason for the show getting scratched after its well-viewed inaugural season, Cage said “I am not an AI-friendly actor, so it’s like, connect those dots! I’m not a member of their club.”
Inspired by the 2009 Marvel comic Spider-Man Noir, the show was set in the 1930s and followed detective Ben Reilly, played by Cage, a super-powered detective secretly known as The Spider who is trying to leave his life of masked crime-fighting behind before a case comes along that he can’t refuse. The show, developed by Oren Uziel, debuted in May.
Amazon canceled Spider-Noir in September to the surprise of viewers. The show generated a respectable 2.6 billion minutes of viewership, according to Nielsen, and was well-received by fans and critics. The show racked up 11 Emmy nominations, more than any Amazon series in 2026, Deadline reported, and won five of them.
In a review, Consequence said of Spider-Noir, “To see it actually become a TV show is still surprising, especially a TV show this well-executed” while praising Cage’s commitment to the hard-boiled version of Spider-Man and giving the show a B+ grade. Amazon MGM Studios struck a deal with Sony Pictures Television to make Spider-Noir. The show was Cage’s first television starring role and a reprisal of the character that the comic-book-loving actor briefly but memorably voiced in the Spider-Verse movie series.
The now-canceled show may not be his last foray into television, Cage revealed at New York Comic Con. He told the crowd that his next project will be HBO’s dark mystery series True Detective.