Development
By June 2021, Marvel Studios Animation was developing a slate of at least three more series in addition to their Disney+ series What If...? (2021–2024). The next month, these were said to be in various stages of development and were not expected to debut until at least 2023. Spider-Man: Freshman Year was announced during a Disney+ Day event in November 2021, with Jeff Trammell serving as head writer. Trammell was initially asked to pitch for X-Men '97 (2024–present) and endeared himself to Marvel Studios for wanting to tell an original story, despite plans for that series to be a revival and continuation of X-Men: The Animated Series (1992–1997). Marvel Studios's animation head Brad Winderbaum and president Kevin Feige felt Trammell would be good for a Spider-Man series. He presented a pitch in November 2020, envisioning a four-season story arc.
During Marvel Studios Animation's panel at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2022, Spider-Man: Freshman Year and the other projects discussed were referred to as being part of the "Marvel Animated Multiverse". A second season was announced at the panel with the title Spider-Man: Sophomore Year. The series was retitled Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man by December 2023. In January 2025, Trammell explained that the series was not limited to covering one school year per season. When Marvel Studios decided to change the series' title, Trammell provided a list of options to consider. Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man was suggested by Feige. Each of the first season's episode titles are a reference to, or inspired by, comic book titles or elements from the comics. Mel Zwyer served as supervising director, with Liza Singer and Stu Livingston as episodic directors. Marvel Studios's Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Winderbaum, and Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt were executive producers alongside Trammell.
Also in January 2025, Winderbaum said a third season had been green-lit, and Trammell was listed as both showrunner and head writer by Marvel.com. The next month, Winderbaum said the second season would be released in 2026, more than a year after the first. He said Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man and X-Men '97 were the studio's top priorities for "get[ting] to a place where we can reliably have very strong seasons every year", and in October he said future seasons would be released annually "for a number of years".
Writing
The series was originally planned to be set within the "Sacred Timeline" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), before Peter Parker / Spider-Man's MCU introduction in the film Captain America: Civil War (2016), and depict the character's origin story. Marvel Studios decided not to tell the origin story in the MCU films because they felt audiences would already know it due to the Spider-Man films directed by Sam Raimi (2002–2007) and Marc Webb (2012–2014). The creative team found working within the Sacred Timeline 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, which leads to Peter meeting other unexpected characters. 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.
Casting
Starring in the first season are Hudson Thames as Peter Parker / Spider-Man, Kari Wahlgren as May Parker, Grace Song as Nico Minoru, Eugene Byrd as Lonnie Lincoln / Tombstone, Zeno Robinson as Harry Osborn, Colman Domingo as Norman Osborn, Hugh Dancy as Otto Octavius, and Charlie Cox as Daredevil.
Animation and design
Because Marvel Studios Animation does not have a "house style", the creative team was free to develop an animation style that differed from previous series What If...? and X-Men '97. They wanted to avoid copying one of the many different animation styles used for the animated Spider-Verse films and settled on paying 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. Polygon was chosen because of the 2D animation look they had achieved in their previous work. Trammell said the company was able to match their desired style while keeping the "characters feeling alive and real, without feeling stiff and mechanical".
Music
Leo Birenberg and Zach Robinson were revealed to be composing the series' score in June 2024. The series' theme song, "Neighbor Like Me" by The Math Club featuring Relaye and Melo Makes Music, is a rap that samples the theme song from the animated series Spider-Man (1967–1970) by Paul Francis Webster and Bob Harris. Like the series' animation, Trammell wanted the theme song to be "something classic that we all love" through the use of the 1960s sample, while still having a modern style. The song was released as a single by Hollywood Records and Marvel Music on January 21, 2025. A soundtrack album featuring the theme song and excerpts from Birenberg and Robinson's score for the first season was released digitally on February 21.
