Amazon’s ‘Spider-Noir’ Just Won Five Emmys, Days After Getting Canceled

Awards season has a way of delivering ironic twists, and this year’s Creative Arts Emmys served up one of the most head-turning yet. The two-day ceremony, held at Los Angeles’ Peacock Theater, spent its second night honoring the technical and craft categories that rarely get their moment in the primetime spotlight.

Streaming shows in particular had a strong showing across sound, visual effects, stunts, and design categories, with several series walking away with multiple trophies. But one story stood out from the rest, not because of who won, but because of the timing behind it.

‘Spider-Noir’ took home five Emmy Awards on Sunday night, just two days after Prime Video and MGM+ canceled the series following its first season. The Nicolas Cage-led show won for cinematography, sound editing, special visual effects, stunt coordination, and main title design, sweeping nearly every craft category it was nominated in.

The wins came from a total of 11 nominations, the most earned by any series from the streamer this year, which makes the cancellation sting even more given how competitive the show clearly was on the technical side. ‘Spider-Noir’ debuted on Prime Video in May as the first stage of Sony Pictures Television and Amazon Studios’ plan to expand Marvel character stories under the Sony banner.

Backstage, supervising stunt coordinator Freddy Bouciegues and stunt coordinator Hugh Aodh O’Brien addressed the strange timing of celebrating wins for a canceled show, joking about the situation when asked whether they hoped Prime Video might reverse its decision while speaking with press backstage. It’s the kind of bittersweet moment that only awards season can produce.

‘Spider-Noir’ isn’t alone in pulling off a win after cancellation this year, either. ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ and ‘Palm Royale’ also picked up multiple prizes despite both shows no longer being in production, suggesting the Television Academy wasn’t shy about rewarding canceled series across the board this year.

The show’s cast list reads like a genre-fan wishlist, with Cage starring alongside Lamorne Morris, Li Jun Li, Karen Rodriguez, Abraham Popoola, Jack Huston, and Brendan Gleeson. Oren Uziel and Steve Lightfoot served as co-showrunners and executive producers, while Harry Bradbeer, known for his work on ‘Fleabag’ and ‘Killing Eve,’ directed and executive produced the first two episodes.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller also executive produced through their Lord Miller banner, alongside Aditya Sood and Dan Shear, with Amy Pascal producing through Pascal Pictures. That’s a heavyweight roster of talent behind a show that never made it past its debut season, which only deepens the frustration many fans have expressed since the cancellation news broke.

This year’s Creative Arts Emmys also carried extra significance for structural reasons. Several categories that used to be presented during the main Primetime broadcast, including supporting acting in a limited or anthology series, were folded into this year’s Creative Arts ceremony instead. That shift gave craft-focused winners like ‘Spider-Noir’ a bigger stage than they might have had in years past, even without a televised broadcast of their own.

Sunday’s ceremony wasn’t aired live, with the full two-day event set to broadcast together on September 12. The 78th Primetime Emmy Awards follow shortly after on September 14, airing live on NBC.

For a show that no longer has a future on Prime Video, five Emmy wins is a strange kind of send-off, proof that the series’ craft was recognized by the industry even as its story came to an abrupt end. Whether the wins spark any renewed conversation about the cancellation remains to be seen, but for now, ‘Spider-Noir’ leaves the small screen with some serious hardware to show for it.

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