Why Amazon Canceled ‘Spider-Noir’ Despite Its Rave Reviews

Critical acclaim doesn’t always guarantee a second season, and few recent cancellations highlight that disconnect as clearly as the recent news from Prime Video. The streamer’s live-action Spider-Man spinoff had all the hallmarks of a hit: strong reviews, awards buzz, and a movie star making his television debut.

That show was ‘Spider-Noir,’ featuring Nicolas Cage as Ben Reilly, a down-on-his-luck private investigator in 1930s New York who must confront his past as the city’s only masked hero. Despite achieving a 92% critics score and a 90% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, along with 11 Emmy nominations—the most for any Prime Video series in 2026—Amazon has opted not to proceed with a second season.

According to Deadline, the cancellation stems from a comparison that might surprise many fans. ‘Spider-Noir’ simply failed to retain its audience like other recent Prime Video hits such as ‘Reacher,’ ‘Off Campus,’ and ‘Ride Or Die,’ and this gap in viewer retention ultimately outweighed the show’s critical acclaim.

On paper, ‘Spider-Noir’ had an impressive launch. The series debuted at number 2 on Nielsen’s U.S. Top 10 chart for original series, racking up 851 million minutes viewed during its first week, a strong performance bolstered by Cage’s first true starring role in television.

However, that momentum quickly waned. Over its first six weeks, the show amassed a total of 2.6 billion viewing minutes, but it fell off Prime Video’s daily Top 10 rankings relatively fast, contrasting sharply with shows like ‘Reacher’ and ‘Off Campus,’ which have maintained a consistent presence on the charts well beyond their debut weeks.

This kind of drop-off is crucial for streamers when making renewal decisions. Deadline notes that platforms like Prime Video primarily base these decisions on the relationship between production costs and sustained performance, and ‘Spider-Noir’ simply couldn’t compete in that regard due to its high production costs.

Much of that expense was due to a stylistic choice integrated into the show from the start. ‘Spider-Noir’ filmed dual versions of every episode, one in full color and another in black-and-white, a demanding production approach that significantly raised the show’s budget compared to a standard single-format series.

That level of investment might have been justified if audience retention matched that of shows like ‘Reacher,’ which continues to air new seasons and remains one of Prime Video’s most consistently viewed titles in the U.S. Instead, the disparity between ‘Spider-Noir’s’ costs and its relatively short shelf life on the platform’s charts seems to have sealed its fate, regardless of its critical performance.

There is a silver lining for fans disappointed by the cancellation news. Season 1 wrapped up its central storyline, leaving only a few loose threads, so viewers won’t be left with a major cliffhanger as is often the case with canceled shows.

‘Spider-Noir’ also featured Lamorne Morris, Li Jun Li, Karen Rodriguez, Abraham Popoola, Jack Huston, and Brendan Gleeson, with Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot serving as co-showrunners and executive producers. The series was developed alongside the creative team behind ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,’ including Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, and Amy Pascal.

Despite the cancellation, the broader Amazon-Sony collaboration on Sony’s Marvel characters remains active, with another project reportedly nearing a series order. Whatever comes next will likely need to demonstrate it can maintain an audience over time, not just impress critics initially.

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