Nicolas Cage says he will “probably never work with” Amazon again after declining to sign a waiver allowing the use of artificial intelligence on the streaming service’s Prime Video series Spider-Noir.
The National Treasure actor made his position clear during a New York Comic Con 2026 panel attended by IGN. His work on the Marvel project officially ended when it was canceled last month, though Cage indicated he wouldn’t have been eager to return for a second season regardless.
“Amazon is a very AI-friendly company, to the tune of $50 billion invested in OpenAI,” Cage said. “I’m not an AI-friendly actor. I’m not part of their club. I didn’t sign the waiver to use AI on Spider-Noir. I’ll probably never work with that studio again, but that’s OK.”
A long-standing opponent of AI in Hollywood
Cage is far from a newcomer to the growing list of Hollywood talent to speak out against AI in recent years. In early 2025, he used the Saturn Awards as an opportunity to argue against artificial intelligence, saying he’s “a big believer in not letting robots dream for us.”
“Robots cannot reflect the human condition for us,” he continued. “That is a dead end if an actor lets one AI robot manipulate his or her performance even a little bit, an inch will eventually become a mile and all integrity, purity, and truth of art will be replaced by financial interests only. We can’t let that happen.”
Cage also told The New Yorker in 2024 that he was “terrified” of AI.
Backing new-generation filmmakers
Beyond avoiding AI, Cage said he’s backing other anti-AI filmmakers. One fresh face in the Hollywood scene he praised at NYCC was YouTuber-turned-director Kane Parsons, behind Backrooms, who previously called attention to the “genuinely harmful consequences” generative AI has inflicted on society.
“I got to get with these young directors who are, you know, Gen Z, and they’re going in it their own way, whether it’s through the YouTube culture or whatever it is,” Cage said. “They’re doing it from scratch by hand. I wanna get with that.”
Cage’s upcoming projects
Cage’s time in the live-action Spider-Noir may have ended, but he has more work ahead. He is attached to star as John Madden in what may be his final project with Amazon MGM. He is also expected to appear in the next season of True Detective, and will lend his voice to the Marvel universe again when he appears in Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse in 2027.
Cage commented on Spider-Noir’s cancellation shortly after the news broke: “For me, one season is perfect, having said what I wanted to say with this dangerous, innovative, pop-art Spider-Man. Onwards, upwards, inwards.”
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