Development Marvel Studios Animation's
Spider-Man: Freshman Year was announced during a
Disney+ Day event in November 2021, with Jeff Trammell as
head writer. The series was retitled
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man by December 2023, and in January 2025 Trammell said the series was not limited to covering one school year per season. Mel Zwyer served as
supervising director, with Liza Singer and Stu Livingston as episodic directors.
Marvel Studios's
Kevin Feige,
Louis D'Esposito,
Brad Winderbaum, and
Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt were executive producers alongside Trammell.
Writing Writers for the season included Trammell, Charlie Neuner, Raven Kone, and Halima Lucas. Tramell wrote half of the season's episodes. Each episode title is a reference to, or is inspired by, comic book titles or other elements from the comics. The series was originally planned to be set within the "
Sacred Timeline" of the
Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), before
Peter Parker / Spider-Man's introduction in the film
Captain America: Civil War (2016), and depict the character's
origin story. The creative team found this to be too restrictive regarding which characters and comic book elements could be included, so they decided to move the series to an
alternate timeline, taking advantage of the MCU's
multiverse concept. The story begins similarly to
Civil War but depicts
Norman Osborn becoming Peter's mentor instead of
Tony Stark. Peter's origin story is still told in the season, though it differs from previous depictions: Peter is bitten by a spider that falls out of a portal created by Dr.
Stephen Strange as he is fighting a
symbiotic alien, and the
season finale reveals that this spider was injected with Peter's own blood and then taken back in time by Strange's portal, creating a
temporal paradox in which Peter gains his abilities from himself. Trammell said the series would explore Peter's identity pre-Spider-Man and how his superhero career began. The creative team took inspiration from early
The Amazing Spider-Man comic books by
Stan Lee and
Steve Ditko, as well as previous Spider-Man animated series. Trammell took specific inspiration from the way characters were developed in
The Spectacular Spider-Man (2008–09). He wanted to use the series to approach familiar ideas and characters in new ways, such as Norman Osborn's role as Peter's mentor, and Peter's father
Richard being alive. Winderbaum said the series was "so essentially Spider-Man" because it features Peter trying to juggle high school, caring for his aunt
May, and being a superhero. He said the large
ensemble of characters allowed for interesting relationships and stakes, and an emphasis on the "neighborhood" from the series' title by featuring supporting characters in prominent roles; Winderbaum compared this to Trammell's work on the animated series
Craig of the Creek (2018–2025). Several characters not usually associated with Spider-Man are included in the series, including
Nico Minoru in the role of Peter's best friend, as well as
Jeanne Foucault / Finesse and
Amadeus Cho. Trammell also considered including a young
Jessica Jones as one of Peter's classmates. The superhero team
Fantastic Four was off-limits to Trammell because Marvel was saving them for the MCU film
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025). He was also asked not to use the villain
Big Wheel in the series.
Casting and voice recording At Comic-Con in July 2022,
Charlie Cox was announced to be reprising his role as
Daredevil from previous MCU media for the series, while
Paul F. Tompkins was cast as
Bentley Wittman. Cox recorded his lines in 2021 during breaks in filming for the live-action MCU series
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022). In September 2023, a
United States Copyright Office filing for the series revealed that
Hudson Thames was voicing Peter Parker / Spider-Man, reprising his role from the
first season of Marvel Studios Animation's
What If...? (2021), with
Eugene Byrd as
Lonnie Lincoln, Grace Song as Nico Minoru,
Hugh Dancy as
Otto Octavius,
Kari Wahlgren as May Parker, and
Zeno Robinson as
Harry Osborn. The creative team were struggling to settle on an actor for Norman Osborn who they felt could live up to the character's reputation, until Zwyer suggested casting
Colman Domingo. Trammell thought that was a "genius idea" and they immediately approached the actor, who was "super excited" to take on the role. Domingo's casting was announced in August 2024. In December 2024,
Cathy Ang was revealed as the voice of
Pearl Pangan. Ahead of the series' premiere in January 2025, more actors were revealed:
Robin Atkin Downes as Dr. Stephen Strange; Anjali Kunapaneni as Jeanne Foucault / Finesse;
Erica Luttrell as
Asha;
Aleks Le as Amadeus Cho;
Zehra Fazal as
Carla Connors; Jake Green as
Butane;
Mick Wingert as Tony Stark / Iron Man, reprising his role from
What If...?;
Roger Craig Smith as
James Sanders / Speed Demon and
Dmitri Smerdyakov / Chameleon;
Anairis Quiñones as
Maria Vasquez and
Carmilla Black;
Travis Willingham as
Mikhail Sytsevich and
Thaddeus Ross;
Sarah Natochenny as
Mila Masaryk / Unicorn; Leilani Barrett as
Big Donovan; Jonathan Medina as
Mac Gargan / Scorpion; and former wrestler
Ettore Ewen as
Bulldozer. Ewen began work on the season in 2022. Additionally,
Zach Cherry reprises his MCU role as Klev, and
Josh Keaton voices Peter's father Richard. Keaton starred as Peter Parker / Spider-Man in
The Spectacular Spider-Man and Trammell was excited for him to join the series.
Animation and design The series' art style pays homage to the early
The Amazing Spider-Man comic books, specifically those featuring art by Steve Ditko and
John Romita Sr. Trammell described the series as a "moving comic book", which is achieved through 3D
cel-shaded animation provided by
Polygon Pictures and
CGCG, Inc. Development on the season took four years to complete, finishing in August 2024. Trammell said it could have been finished earlier in 2024, but the season kept having various finalizing stages pushed back in order for Marvel Studios to accommodate other series. Leo Romero was the lead character designer, with comic book artists
Chris Samnee,
Paolo Rivera, and Ethan Young also working on the series. Trammell praised Romero for modernizing the designs while retaining classic elements. They leaned further into comic book references for Peter's
Spider-Man suits and some of the villains' costumes, including those for Octavius and Gargan. Peter starts the series in a homemade suit made from "gym pants, sneakers, goggles, a blue sweatshirt, red undershirt, knee pads, very clunky
web-shooters, and a red logo on the chest". He rejects several
Oscorp suit designs which are based on alternate suits that Peter wears when he takes on different personas during the 1998 "
Identity Crisis" comic book event: a golden suit with a red cape used for the "
Prodigy" persona, a purple suit with hover-wings used for the "
Hornet" persona, and a dark blue wingsuit used for the "
Dusk" persona. Peter goes on to wear a white and blue Oscorp suit resembling Spider-Man's
Future Foundation costume from the comics, and then a "classic 60s" red and blue suit. Daredevil wears a black suit with red lines reminiscent of the costume worn by the character in the 2010 "
Shadowland" comic book event. The opening credits feature
splash pages inspired by comic book art. Romero reworked these to reference events in the series and to match its style.
Music Leo Birenberg and
Zach Robinson were revealed to be composing the series' score in June 2024. A soundtrack album featuring excerpts from Birenberg and Robinson's score was released digitally on February 21. == Marketing ==