New Spider-Man Animated Series Star Was Nervous His Series Would Be “Annoying & Woke”

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is different from other Spider-Man adaptations in a lot of ways, and the star was definitely nervous about its changes. In an interview with Collider ahead of the series premiere, Hudson Thames said that his “biggest fear” was that the show would be “annoying and woke.” Considering how loaded the term “woke” is in today’s discourse, many fans online are put off by this comment and what it may have been meant to imply, but Thames did not elaborate. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man has been targeted by some racist commentary online because Norman and Harry Osborn are portrayed as Black, among other choices. So far, Thames has not elaborated or clarified this statement.

“I thought it was awesome. I mean, my biggest fear was that it was gonna be annoying and woke, and it wasn’t, and I was like, ‘Yes, this is great, it’s so well written,’ like it feels real,” Thames said. “I’m the oldest of five boys, so I feel like I kind of know what’s happening in their lives and in high school, and it felt like it was doing that justice.”

“Woke” just entered the popular vocabulary recently, and it has picked up a lot of connotations in a short time. It generally refers to someone who is aware and considerate of social justice issues and identity politics, but it has become particularly popular as a sarcastic, derogatory remark. In some cases, it’s used by people who are outright bigots and are unsympathetic to social issues, but in others it’s a way to mock the discourse itself for being awkward.

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Thames has never really commented publicly on these kinds of issues, so it’s unclear what he meant. Some fans on social media are uncomfortable with her verbiage, but others want to give him the benefit of the doubt. At this point, changing the races of characters in an adaptation is extremely commonplace, and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man is specifically set up as an alternate reality, so it works particularly well in this case.

Norman Osborn is played by Colman Domingo, while his son Harry is played by Zeno Robinson. In this universe, Norman is Peter Parker’s mentor in the same way that Tony Stark is in the MCU’s main timeline. Peter and Harry are not best friends, but just classmates. Instead, Peter is close with Nico Minoru, a character from the Runaways.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man premiered with two episodes on Wednesday, January 29th on Disney+. The series is scheduled to drop new episodes in batches every Wednesday through February 19th.