There was a time when Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse was supposed to come out just one year after Across the Spider-Verse’s 2023 release. Instead, the final chapter of the Spider-Verse trilogy is now slotted for summer 2027, and it’s entirely possible the release plan could change yet again. Beyond the Spider-Verse producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller opened up about the lengthy delays, as well as discussed the “pressure” they feel to get the upcoming Spider-Man movie right.
Why Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse Has Been Delayed So Long
In addition to producing all the Spider-Verse movies, Phil Lord co-wrote the first movie with Rodney Rothman, and then Lord and Miller worked with Dave Callaham on the second movie’s screenplay. So these two go way back with Marvel’s Web-Slinger, and if the quality of their work isn’t enough of an indication, they want any movies about him to be of exceptional quality. That’s why it’s been necessary for Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse to be frequently delayed, with Chris Miller telling Gizmodo:
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.’
Development on an Into the Spider-Verse sequel was announced a month ahead of the movie hitting theaters, and by February 2021, Phil Lord and Chris Miller decided that the story they wanted to tell should be split into two movies. The problem is that with double the runtime, there wasn’t enough to pad out that second movie, hence why a summer 2024 release for Beyond the Spider-Verse was no longer doable. 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?
When we left off with Miles Morales at the end of Across the Spider-Verse, he’d accidentally ended up on Earth-42, the world from where the spider that bit him originated. He was soon captured by his Earth-42 counterpart, who became The Prowler, and that Miles’ Uncle Aaron, while it was revealed that Earth-42’s Jeff was dead. Meanwhile, The Spot began attacking Earth-1610’s New York City, and Gwen Stacy assembled a team to find the main Miles. That’s a lot to follow up on in Beyond the Spider-Verse!
Lord And Miller Are Feeling The Beyond The Spider-Verse Pressure
Into the Spider-Verse and Across the Spider-Verse rank as not just two of the best Spider-Man movies, but also some of the most beloved superhero movies of all time. So there’s a lot riding on Beyond the Spider-Verse bringing this trilogy to a satisfying close, and Phil Lord and Chris Miller are well aware about how important it is to stick the landing. As Miller said:
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.
However, Phil Lord also said that it’s been important for the creatives working on Beyond the Spider-Verse to take risks, because the ones that work can help make the movie stand out even more. In his words:
The main trick is to play free. 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.
We’ll see how the final product comes together when Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse hits theaters on June 18, 2027. In the meantime, not only are Phil Lord and Chris Miller credited as executive producers on Spider-Noir, the Nicolas Cage-led series releasing on MGM+ and Prime Video at the end of May, their next directorial effort, Project Hail Mary, arrives to the 2026 movies schedule on March 20.
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