Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse 2 Announces Directing Team

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was so big, it needed three directors to bring it all together. Now we know the sequel will be the same, albeit this time with three new directors.

Variety reports, and Sony Pictures Animation confirms in the below Tweet, that the still-untitled Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel will be directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson. They’ll take over for Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, and Rodney Rothman, who made the first film. Ramsey remains on as an executive producer, along with Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and a slew of others. Lord and Miller wrote the script, along with David Callaham, who wrote Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

“The crew behind the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse set such a ridiculously high bar, and we’re humbled to take on the challenge of charting the next chapter in the story of Miles Morales,” the trio said in a joint statement.

Dos Santos had previously been announced as one of the film’s directors and worked on The Legend of Korra and Avatar: The Last Airbender, among others. Thompson was the production designer on the first film, and Powers wrote and co-directed Pixar’s Soul, which is currently up for multiple Oscars.

Little is known about the highly anticipated sequel to the Oscar-winning original movie—io9’s pick for best film of 2018 and best superhero film of the past decade—except that it’ll feature the return of Miles Morales. Beyond that, we assume it’ll also feature the return of the many other Spider-People from that film as well. Also expected to be in the mix is Spider-Man 2099, voiced by Oscar Isaac. Also, the fact that the upcoming live-action Spider-Man film, No Way Home, is exploring multiverses makes it seem almost inevitable these could all cross over.

“We are so lucky to have Joaquim, Justin, and Kemp on the Spider-Verse team,” Lord and Miller said in a statement. “We are huge fans of Joaquim’s work—he makes his characters so heartfelt and unique, and he can tell an emotional story with an action sequence the way a musical does through a song. Justin is a maverick filmmaker who relentlessly pursues visual innovation and surprise but always in support of the emotional storytelling. Kemp’s work is incisive and ambitious and funny—with a writer’s wisdom and a director’s heart—he just knows what matters in every scene. All three of them elevate every project they take on, and they are certainly raising our game. We honestly just like them and want to be their friends and we’re hoping working on this movie together for the next few years will totally make that happen.”

Yes, that’s the bad news: “next few years.” The sequel to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won’t be out until Oct. 7, 2022.

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