Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel casts Issa Rae as Spider-Woman

(Image credit: Merie W. Wallace / HBO)

Issa Rae, known for her role in HBO's Insecure, has been cast as Jessica Drew, AKA Spider-Woman, in the untitled Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel.

This marks the first major casting news to surface about Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse 2. Rae joins returning cast members Shameik Moore, who leads as Miles Morales/Spider-Man, and Hailee Steinfeld, who plays Gwen Stacy/Spider-Gwen.

It's been just about a year since the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse sequel entered production, but we still don't have any plot details or release date. Thanks to a Variety report from April, we do know the sequel is being helmed by a trio of directors including Joaquin Do Santos (Justice League Unlimited, Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra), Kemp Powers (One Night in Miami, Soul, Star Trek: Discovery), and Justin K. Thompson (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse production designer).

Despite nothing official from Sony on the story, Rae's casting as Jessica Drew opens up a world of possibilities. Miles and Jessica have fought together before, including in the 2014 Marvel Comics Spider-Verse event. And as Variety points out, bringing in Jessica Drew suggests we could see the oft-ignored Wundagore Mountain region from the comics, which is where Jessica grew up and was exposed to lethal levels of uranium. In an attempt to save her life, Jessica's father injected her with an experimental serum based on arachnid blood, inadvertently making a superhero out of her.

Again, it isn't clear whether Spider-Woman's origin story will play out exactly as it does in the comic books, or even whether her origin story is explained (although that's more likely), but it's always helpful looking back at comic book history for hints at where the story could go.

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.