'Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse' Sequel Cast Adds Issa Rae As Spider-Woman
The Spider-Verse is starting to take shape again. Issa Rae has joined the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel cast as Jessica Drew, AKA Spider-Woman. Rae is the first new cast member to be announced for the sequel, which will bring back Shameik Moore as Miles Morales and Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacey. Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson are directing the film, with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller returning to produce and contribute to the script.
The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Insecure creator and star Issa Rae has joined the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel cast as Jessica Drew, AKA Spider-Woman. In the comics, the character has a very complicated backstory involving magic, science experiments, Hydra, S.H.I.E.L.D., and even more wacky stuff. She even died and then came back from the dead at one point. On top of that, she became a private detective and later got pregnant. Like I said: there's a lot going on with the character. Of course, Into the Spider-Verse has already established that this particular franchise can play around with a character's comic book history, so don't be surprised if the film changes things up a bit.
Plot details for the Into the Spider-Verse movie are unknown at this time, but the film will likely once again involve alternate dimensions and other Spider-People. Shameik Moore and Hailee Steinfeld as confirmed to return as Miles Morales and Gwen Stacey, respectively. Hopefully, Jake Johnson's Peter B. Parker, John Mulaney's Peter Porker/Spider-Ham, Nicolas Cage's Spider-Man Noir, and Kimiko Glenn's Peni Parker will come back for the follow-up as well.
In the first film, high schooler Miles Morales exists in an alternate dimension where Spider-Man has been killed. When Miles is bitten by a radioactive spider, he suddenly develops Spider-Man powers himself – and encounters a group of other Spider-People from various alternate dimensions who are all trying to get back home. The film's inventive animation, and funny, heartfelt script made it one of the best superhero movies in recent memory. And in my humble opinion, it's also the best Spider-Man movie, although I'm sure others will disagree with that.
Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson are directing the sequel, with Peter Ramsey, one of the first movie's directors, returning as an executive producer, alongside Aditya Sood. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller will produce, along with Amy Pascal, Avi Arad, and Christina Steinberg, with Alonzo Ruvalcaba is co-producing. Lord and Miller will also contribute to the script, along with David Callaham.
The Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel is due out October 7, 2022.