‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ Sequel Announces Directing Trio

The highly-anticipated sequel to Oscar winner Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has announced a big move today, with a trio of names enlisted to direct the upcoming film. 

As reported by Variety, Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson are all suiting up in the director’s chairs together, with Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and David Callaham writing the film. 

In a joint statement, the new directing trio said, “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.” 

This is a major announcement for all three involved. Dos Santos and Thompson are veterans at Sony Pictures Animation who will be making their directing debuts with the film, while Powers had a massive 2020 between his work writing One Night in Miami (which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, adapting from his own play) and writing/co-directing Best Animated Film frontrunner Soul. 

Lord and Miller, Oscar-winning producers from the first film who return to produce here, stated, “We are so lucky to have Joaquim, Justin and Kemp on the ‘Spider-Verse’ team. 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.” 

With its groundbreaking cultural, critical, and commercial success, surely there will be plenty of viewers eager for this one to hit the screens. The currently untitled sequel is set to release on October 7, 2022.