Phil Lord and Chris Miller have signed a TV development deal with Sony that could include TV shows based on Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Lord and Miller have emerged as a powerhouse duo in Hollywood over the past ten years. Since their feature directing debut on 2009’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, the pair have helmed a pair of successful 21 Jump Street films and launched the LEGO cinematic universe. Most recently, they produced and co-wrote the Oscar winning Into the Spider-Verse, an animated superhero romp that already has both a sequel and spinoff in development.
Following the success of last year’s Spider-Verse and the live-action Venom, Sony plans to continue making good use of the Marvel characters that it owns. In addition to a Morbius the Living Vampire movie (which is currently in production), the studio is working on ways to bring its Marvel IPs to the small screen. Unsurprisingly, they’re reportedly giving serious thought to multiple series based on Spider-Verse’s web slingers specifically. And who better to oversee their journey to television than Lord and Miller?
THR is reporting that Lord and Miller have signed a five-year deal (for a nine-figure sum) with Sony Pictures TV. The pair will create and develop their own original series for the studio, in addition to supervising other projects. Most notably, they’ll be working on TV series based on the Marvel characters that Sony owns the rights to, which includes Spider-Man and the villains and/or antiheroes associated with them. This could ultimately include characters from Spider-Verse, but it’s not a sure thing for the time being.
It’s little wonder Sony wants to keep Lord and Miller on the Marvel beat, after their efforts on Spider-Verse. It helps that the pair have a long history in TV, having gotten their start with the cult animated series Clone High in the early 2000s. They’ve since managed to launch popular live-action comedy series like The Last Man on Earth, and helped to get a show like Brooklyn Nine-Nine up and running by directing its pilot. Then again, the pair also worked on the short-lived Son of Zorn and were never able to get a Greatest American Hero reboot off the ground, so not everything they touch turns to gold. Nevertheless, Sony is smart to sign them on to supervise their Marvel projects, in addition to any original series that Lord and Miller come up with.
Thanks to Spider-Verse, Lord and Miller already have some obvious ideas for potential Sony-Marvel TV shows. The film’s supporting characters very much lend themselves to a series format, be it a zany cartoon about the adventures of Spider-Ham or an anime-style show that follows Peni Parker as she fights crime in futuristic New York. Alternatively, Lord and Miller could elect to work on a series about Eddie Brock, Venom, and their weekly escapades in San Francisco. The Venom movie typically felt like an animated comic book series done in live-action, so there’s certainly potential for something there.
Source: THR
- Morbius Release Date: 2022-04-01
