Sony Pictures’ universe of more than 900 Marvel characters related to the Spider-Man comic book series is coming to Amazon Prime Video and MGM+ through a suite of live-action television series.
Under the agreement, the first series produced will be Sony Pictures Television’s “Silk: Spider Society,” which will debut globally in more than 240 countries and territories on Prime Video and domestically on MGM+’s linear channel.
Based on Marvel Comics characters created by Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos, “Silk: Spider Society” follows Cindy Moon, a Korean American woman bitten by the same spider that bit Peter Parker, as she escapes imprisonment and searches for her missing family on her way to becoming the superhero known as Silk.
Sony initially purchased the film rights to the Spider-Man IP around 2000, amid a period when Marvel was selling the licensing film and television rights to its prized characters after a brush with bankruptcy in the mid-1990s.
While Disney owns Marvel Studios, having purchased it for $4 billion in 2009, Sony still owns Spider-Man and his amazing friends and enemies.
Korean American television writer and producer Angela Kang will serve as showrunner as part of a multiyear overall deal with Amazon Studios, while Academy Award winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse“ producers Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Amy Pascal will serve as executive producers.
“Amy Pascal, Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Sony’s recent live-action and animated reimagining of the Spider-Man franchise has represented some of the most dynamic superhero storytelling in film,” Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke said in a statement. “Together with Angela Kang’s creative vision, we couldn’t be more pleased to bring Silk: Spider Society to our MGM+ and Prime Video customers.”
Kang currently serves as showrunner on AMC’s “The Walking Dead” and is executive producing its untitled Daryl spinoff. She is represented by United Talent Agency, Literate and Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole.
Additionally, she is developing multiple projects for the studio and network as a producer, including a series adaptation of the acclaimed fantasy novel “Black Sun” and an adaptation of the near sci-fi novel “The Postmortal.” In 2020, Kang launched her own production company, Kang & Co Entertainment.
“I’m beyond thrilled to be joining the Amazon Studios family for this next chapter of my career,” Kang said. “I look forward to working with the executive team on diverse, character-forward, water cooler shows for a global audience and am so excited to dive in to my first challenge—bringing Korean American superhero Silk to life on screen.”
Scott Mendelson contributed to this report.