Nicolas Cage Refused to Sign Amazon's AI Waiver for Spider-Noir

Nicolas Cage said he refused to sign an AI waiver from Amazon for the series Spider-Noir. The studio cancelled the Prime Video project in September 2026. The actor spoke about it on Saturday, October 10, at a New York Comic Con panel, and Variety relayed his remarks. According to Cage, he most likely will not want to work with Amazon again. He called the studio "very friendly to AI" and, in the same sentence, cited the amount it has invested in the technology. In the portion of the article available to us, the figure is cut off, so we do not reproduce it.

What is known and what is not

There are few facts so far, and they are worth separating.

• Project: Spider-Noir, a Prime Video series starring Cage.
• Status: cancelled in September 2026.
• Venue: New York Comic Con panel, Saturday, October 10.
• Statement: Cage did not sign Amazon's AI waiver and does not plan to work with the studio in the future.
• Source of the account: Variety, then TNW.
• Not disclosed: the text of the waiver, its legal wording and its scope.

The last point is the most important. An "AI waiver" could mean almost anything, from consent to a digital replica of a person's likeness and voice to permission to use footage for training models. Without the document itself, any interpretation is guesswork. The link between Cage's refusal and the series' cancellation is also unconfirmed: he is talking about his own decision, not about the reasons for the cancellation.

Why this matters for the industry

AI in film has long stopped being an abstract topic. It has become a clause in contracts. After the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, consent to creating a digital replica of an actor and to using their likeness became one of the central subjects of negotiation. Union rules set the framework, but individual studios still ask actors to sign additional documents. The Spider-Noir case shows what such requests look like in practice: a star of Cage's stature can refuse, while less protected performers find it harder.

Cage also has a long-standing, public position. He has said more than once that he fears AI will replace acting, and he considers human emotion something that cannot be synthesized. His refusal therefore looks consistent rather than spontaneous.

For Amazon, the situation is a reputational headache. The company sells cloud infrastructure for generative models, invests in AI developers and produces content for Prime Video, all at the same time. When these lines converge in a single contract, actors are left asking what exactly they are consenting to and who will later use the result. In the material available to us, Amazon has not publicly commented on the situation.

What market participants should do

The lesson is practical rather than philosophical.

• Actors and agents should demand transparent wording from studios: for which model, in which project and for how long the use of likeness, voice and movements is permitted.
• Producers are better off not burying AI terms in a standard document package. A separate consent with a clearly defined scope of rights reduces the risk of a public conflict.
• Studio lawyers will find it useful to check waivers against collective agreements and industry rules so that the document does not contradict them.
• Those following the story should wait for details. They need the text of the waiver, an official Amazon comment and clarity on why the series was cancelled. For now, this is a story about one actor, one refusal and one cancelled project. Whether it becomes a precedent depends on whether others take the same step.