Spider-Man: Freshman Year Season 2 - now known as Sophomore Year - will be making some disappointing changes before it comes to Disney+.
Tom Holland's Spider-Man has been used sparingly across the MCU due to Sony limiting Marvel Studios' access to the character. Nonetheless, the studio is still free to utilize the character in animated series and will be doing so with Freshman Year.
The Disney+ adventure will explore the early days of Spider-Man elsewhere in the Multiverse and take Peter Parker in a new direction that sees him collide with Norman Osborn, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, and ten iconic wall-crawler villains.
Even with the show not expected to debut until 2024, Marvel Studios already has Season 2 plans for a sequel series called Sophomore Year. Although that follow-up is likely still at least three years away, crew changes are already happening.
Spider-Man: Sophomore Year Makes Strange Crew Changes
Reddit user u/ben123111 collated cryptic tweets from several members of the Spider-Man: Freshman Year crew that indicates Marvel Studios will be replacing certain members of the team ahead of Season 2 - which was already announced earlier in the year as Spider-Man: Sophomore Year.
Production coordinator Ally Sage revealed responded to a user sharing their excitement for Freshman Year to note "it won't be the same amazing crew for Season 2:"
"It sucks cause unless they change their mind within the next few weeks, it won’t be the same amazing crew for Season 2 and I think that’s what’s really heartbreaking."
Storyboard artist Lydia Anslow replied to the same fan and stated that "Season 1 is already so good" and had "such a good crew:"
"Season 1 is already so good like I've never felt this excited about working on a show before and with such a good crew. I think thats the biggest killer for me is everything was kind of wonderful :\"
The storyboard artist noted in a separate tweet that they will "be looking for board work soon" like "everyone else in the industry:"
"well its not GREAT news but I'll probably be looking for board work soon like ....literally everyone else in the industry."
Storyboard artist Li Cree added that they "just got some news [about] work" and will be "keeping [their] eye out for new work:"
"welp....just got some news abt work and im feeling....alot of things, dont know when my end date is but i'll be keeping my eye out for new work...until then im just gonna draw hot anime boys and process."
The news comes amid shake-ups across the animation industry as layoffs and cancellations have been taking place at Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery.
Why is Spider-Man: Freshman Year Season 2 Firing Crew?
There's no telling exactly why Marvel Studios is letting go of so many members of the Spider-Man: Freshman Year crew ahead of Sophomore Year. It's also too soon to tell the extent of these dismissals with regard to how much of the Season 1 team won't be returning for Season 2.
The animation industry as a whole has been going through a tough time lately, leading to unfortunate dismissals for many creatives. Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) just recently laid off over 125 workers as Cartoon Network was restructured to merge with WB Animation, effectively gutting the beloved studio.
Netflix has also been party to the animation turmoil by canceling 11 animated shows, not all of which had even aired yet. But that unfortunate figure pales in comparison to the 37 that have been axed at WBD, some of which were completely removed from HBO Max, making them near-impossible to watch.
Simply put, animation has been on the chopping block across the board in Hollywood, so it's a tough time already for those working in the industry. So, one can only wonder if these crew change circumstances are limited to just Freshman Year Season 2, or if other Disney animation jobs are on the line.
With the crew indicating Freshman Year has been shaping up well, there's no telling exactly why Marvel Studios would want to replace the team ahead of the sequel series. Unless perhaps this represents a scaling back in the crew size altogether with a smaller team for the follow-up.
With the Spider-Man animated series still around two years away from its 2024 release date, there's probably still quite a lot of work to go on even the first season. So, with the crew being notified about their upcoming exit now, these shake-ups may even be applied to the remainder of the Freshman Year production.
Although it does appear that, as of now, the crew has yet to be notified about the end date for their work at Marvel Studios. Some of the comments indicate this may not be quite a done deal as one of the team mentioned the potential that things could still change in the coming weeks; either way, it's not looking good.
Spider-Man: Freshman Year will premiere on Disney+ in 2024.
