Silk Searches for a New Home After Cancellation
Amazon Prime and MGM+ are not moving forward with Silk: Spider Society, the superhero series from Sony Pictures Television, and showrunner Angela Kang.
After being announced as the first live-action #SpiderMan TV show in 2022 for Prime Video, Silk: Spider Society is no longer going forward. This comes days after Amazon announced that Noir with Nicolas Cage had been officially picked up. More here: https://t.co/dLuJw54Fnj pic.twitter.com/TBaaw7puuQ
— Screen Rant (@screenrant) May 17, 2024
Instead, The Hollywood Reporter revealed on Thursday that the series is searching for a new studio to call home. The series focused on Cindy Moon, a Korean-American teenager with spider powers. In Marvel Comics, Silk got her powers from the same spider that bit Peter Parker and spent years in prison before escaping. Afterward, she becomes one of New York’s many web-slinging heroes.
Previously, Silk appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Spider-Man: Homecoming, portrayed by Tiffany Espensen. Moreover, Angela Kang, known for her work on The Walking Dead, served as the showrunner for this series and announced its production in 2022.
Exactly why Amazon shelved the series remains unknown. However, Deadline reports that Silk underwent multiple rewrites during its five-year development period. One executive even requested not to focus the series so heavily on the titular character of Silk.
After the Writers Guild of America strike last year, Amazon delayed reopening the writer’s room. This drew a backlash from the union and broadcast the first concerns regarding this series. Though Deadline reports that Kang’s latest pitch was well-received, it wasn’t enough to save this project.
Apparently, the decision was because Silk has less audience appeal than Amazon’s other Spider-Man series, Noir. This series has Nicholas Cage reprising his role from Into the Spider-Verse. another possibility is that this decision has to do with the lukewarm reception to other female-led superhero projects, such as Sony’s Madame Web and Disney’s The Marvels.
Fans of the MCU character expressed their disappointment at the news.
This coming out the day after the news about Silk: Spider-Society feels sad because look who is missing.
— Jenn K. Tidwell (@jk_tidwell) May 18, 2024
(obviously a coincidence but a bad one!) pic.twitter.com/iAiGvtFOGE
Hey wait a second… WHERE'S SILK?!
— Michael Scally (SAME USERNAME ELSEWHERE) (@FizzVsTheWorld) May 17, 2024
Interesting that y'all announce this book a day after news of her show (also subtitled "Spider Society") was cancelled following reports of executives requesting the show be less focused on her…#FizzVsComics https://t.co/60R7Gw2EAE pic.twitter.com/LhjKGzmXn2
Aside from Kang, no other talent was attached to Silk: Spider Society, so whether Espensen was to reprise her role remains unknown. Silk would also have been the first project to star a Korean-American hero. To read more about the project and the current state of Sony’s Spider-Man projects, click here
