Donald Glover hopes that viewers love — or hate — his Prime Video series Mr. & Mrs. Smith on which he costars with Maya Erskine. The series reimagines the 2005 spy movie of the same name starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
The official description of Mr. & Mrs. Smith reads: “Meet the Smiths: Two strangers, John and Jane, who have given up their identities to be thrown together as partners—in espionage and in marriage. Matched by a mysterious agency, each episode follows them on a new mission and new milestone in their relationship. When the cracks begin to show through, they must fight to stay together. Because in this marriage, divorce is not an option.”
“It's definitely going to be different for a lot of people, which I think is good,” said Donald Glover to Entertainment Weekly of his eight-episode Prime Video series. “You can always go back and watch the old one, but this one gives you a different feeling. People are definitely going to be shocked. I just know how much people love the other one, so if everybody's like, ‘Eh,' we didn't do a good job. I hope some people are like, ‘This is better than the original,' and some people are like, ‘This is far worse.'”
Don't Call Donald Glover's Mr. & Mrs. Smith a Remake of the 2005 Movie
In 2005's Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Pitt and Jolie played married spies who unknowingly work for competing spy agencies and are each ordered to kill the other. In Donald Glover‘s Prime Video series, Glover and Erskine play two strangers who sign up for a spy agency and must pose as a married couple for assignments. The more missions they go on together, the stronger their bond becomes.
“I had never seen the movie, which I know was sacrilege,” said Glover. “I watched it and honestly, I was like, ‘I don't understand it.' I mean, I get why it's iconic because of the people starring in it — it's just two gorgeous people in this situation. But the story I didn't quite understand. I called my brother and he was like, ‘This is just a great date movie. It's boys vs. girls. What else do you want?'”
Donald Glover said that he wanted the new Mr. & Mrs. Smith to explore modern ideas about relationships and marriage. He said:
“Why do people even get married anymore? Half of it ends in divorce — what's the purpose? Let's make a show dealing with relationships, but from this point of view, centering more on really what a marriage is and trust and teamwork and loneliness and all that stuff. I just wanted it to be something that spoke to people right now because in a time of abundance, why do we feel lonely? The movie wasn't about that.”
All eight episodes of Mr. & Mrs. Smith premiere February 2, 2024 on Prime Video.