The creators of the Spider-Verse animated movies are speaking up about the pressures of the long delay for the grand conclusion!
When Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse premiered in 2018, it was a stunning achievement. With its bold animation style and a compelling tale of Miles Morales meeting the Spider-champions from other universes, it was a box-office hit and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature.
Obviously, a sequel was ordered and the original plan was for Across the Spider-Verse to arrive in the summer of 2023 and the conclusion, Beyond the Spider-Verse, in the spring of 2024. Across hit all right as another success, but Beyond has been hit by delay after delay and is now currently expected in 2027.
Speaking to io9, producers/writers Phil Lord and Chris Miller explained the delays as a by-product of how the story became bigger than they expected. As Miller said, originally, Across was going to be one movie, not two.
“At one point, it was one movie, but there was too much movie there, so it was separated into two. But then once you looked at that second half of a movie, you’re like, ‘Well, that’s like not just a story arc that has a beginning, middle, and end.”
Lord added, “We know where it’s headed, but we need to understand better what’s happening in the middle. And we came upon a really wonderful notion, which is when your family is broken apart by your calling, your talents, how do you put them back together? How do you have it all?”
Across ended on a huge cliffhanger as Miles was trapped in another Earth, facing an alternate version of himself who was the villainous Prowler. Meanwhile, Gwen Stacy was organizing a band of Spider-heroes to rescue him against the wishes of Spider-Society leader Miles O’Brien.
Obviously, having to wait four years for the conclusion puts a lot of pressure on the filmmakers and they know it.
The film’s delays have been due to various factors, from the 2023 Hollywood strikes to issues at Sony in ownership to Lord and Miller taking a “detour” to make the new sci-fi film Project Hail Mary. That only increases the need for the third movie to stick the landing for fans wrapping up the trilogy.
Miller claimed, “We put the most pressure on ourselves. There’s no one that puts more pressure on us than ourselves, wanting to outdo ourselves each time and see things that you haven’t seen before and make it feel like something you’ve never experienced before. And so, trying to get something that is as worthy as the previous two has been the driver.”
“The main trick is to play free,” Lord added. “And to have the whole team understand that their job is to try stuff. To make mistakes, to see where this could go. And I can report that they’re going hard. It’s so great.”
The pair indicated that they had used the delays to rework the storyline and likely change some plot points. With Project Hail Mary coming out on March 20, they now have time to focus and put it all together and hopefully live up to the fan expectations for the final Spider-Verse film.
Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse premieres in theaters on June 18, 2027.