Development
By November 2018, ahead of the release of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) the next month, Sony Pictures Animation had begun development on a sequel to the film. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller returned from the first film as producers. After writing down the story they wanted to tell for the sequel, which featured the character the Spot as the villain while a planned third film was in early development, they realized that it was too much for a single film and decided to split the second film into two parts by February 2021. This was revealed in December 2021 along with the titles Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One) and (Part Two). Work on both parts was taking place simultaneously, with Lord and Miller working on them with directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson. The second part was initially expected to be released in 2023, but in April 2022 it was given a release date of March 29, 2024, when Sony Pictures pushed the release of the first part from October 2022 to June 2023. The two films were renamed at that time, becoming Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. Around this time, major aspects of the third film's script, storyboards, and some visual development work and concept tests that occurred when the film was being developed as the second part were reportedly shelved and put on hold so those resources could be used to complete the second film first. By then, Beyond the Spider-Verse was internally not expected to meet its March 2024 release date, which was deemed unrealistic due to the film's technical aspects and high expectations, and it was not expected to be released until 2026 or 2027. During the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2022, Sony announced that the Spot would serve as the antagonist in both Across the Spider-Verse and Beyond the Spider-Verse.
In May 2023, Miller said that while the beginning and ending of Beyond the Spider-Verse had been relatively figured out, the middle was "still a little squishy". Following the release of Across the Spider-Verse the next month, Lord and Miller said that Beyond would conclude the Spider-Verse trilogy and Miles Morales's story arc. They also responded to reports of the film's potential delays and lack of production progress, saying that the production would take a necessary amount of time to complete the film and that they would not reserve a release date if it did not fit within their schedule. At this time, Sony had reportedly restarted work on the script, which had yet to include an ending. In July, Sony removed Beyond the Spider-Verse from its release schedule due to the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, which prevented the voice cast from recording dialogue. The March 2024 date was given to Sony's Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, and a new release date was expected to be scheduled in the following weeks. After the strike ended in November, voice recording was set to resume imminently, although it was unclear if the film would still be released in 2024. Production had resumed by December 2023.
In June 2024, composer Daniel Pemberton said the creative team was "beavering away" on the film. He admitted that they felt pressured in making the film as the trilogy's conclusion because they had set a high bar for themselves, explaining that they sought to avoid repeating the "mistakes" of the third installments in other franchises, such as The Godfather Part III (1990). Karan Soni, who voices Pavitr Prabhakar / Spider-Man India, said in August that voice recording was slated to begin in "a few months" and that the film was "deep in production". The following month, journalist Jeff Sneider reported that Beyond the Spider-Verse was unlikely to be released until 2027 at the earliest. He said this was to allow the animators more time to work on the film after several scenes were scrapped and changed, and because it was not expected to be released within the same calendar year as Sony's live-action film Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which was scheduled for release in July 2026; Sony ultimately did not plan to release the film in 2025. Sneider reported that this film's release delay had surprised some of its animators, who were said to be relieved by the decision. Pemberton and Miller subsequently denied that a majority of the film had been "scrapped" as previously reported, saying that the film reels were being produced.
Bob Persichetti and Thompson were confirmed to be directing Beyond the Spider-Verse in December 2024, when Jinko Gotoh joined as a producer, and Lord and Miller were confirmed to have written the script with Across the Spider-Verse co-writer David Callaham. Persichetti was a co-director of Into the Spider-Verse and an executive producer of Across the Spider-Verse, while Thompson was a production designer on the first film and a co-director of the latter. While Powers and Dos Santos had been expected to return as directors from Across the Spider-Verse alongside Thompson, Miller said Persichetti and Thompson had been the film's directors since production began. In January 2025, Jharrel Jerome—the voice actor for the Earth-42 version of Miles G. Morales / Prowler—said voice recording had yet to begin because the production was still "figuring out" several details, but he felt positive about the process. At Sony's CinemaCon panel in March, the trio of Lord, Persichetti, and Thompson acknowledged the importance of the Spider-Verse franchise to several audiences. The pair announced the film's new release date of June 4, 2027, explaining that they "could not run it back" and were ensuring they were taking enough time to make the film right. In July 2025, the release date was delayed by three weeks to June 25, 2027, but was moved up in September 2025 to June 18, 2027.
In February 2026, Sony Pictures Animation co-presidents Damien de Froberville and Kristine Belson said that Lord and Miller were able to frequently "iterate" and provide notes on Beyond the Spider-Verse while the story was being developed, which allowed for fewer changes in animation sequences towards the end of production. They said this was complemented by Lord and Miller editing their film Project Hail Mary (2026) on the Sony Pictures Studios lot, so they could collaborate closely with the Beyond the Spider-Verse crew. Lord and Miller reiterated their desire to elevate the film from its predecessors, and cited the main contributor to the delays as the crew "[h]aving to take it apart to put it back together again". The following month, Lord and Miller reaffirmed that Beyond the Spider-Verse was on schedule to meet its June 2027 release date, adding in early July that the crew was well into the editing process, which was "coming together really well", and were focused on incrementally improving the film.
