Amazon’s adaptation of Mr. & Mrs. Smith put a twist on the original Doug Liman film and the show, which premiered earlier this year, would become one of Prime Video’s top five new series debuts ever in terms of total U.S. viewers. The series would get the greenlight for a second season at Prime Video; however, Variety is reporting that the first season’s stars, Donald Glover and Maya Erskine, are not expected to return. Amazon would decline to comment on the matter and reps for both actors have not immediately responded to the news.

Despite the news of the two leads sitting out the next season, Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon MGM Studios, has still shown her enthusiasm for the future of the series, “We are excited to announce that a second season of our groundbreaking spy series, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, is in the works for our global Prime Video customers. The success of the first season, with its incredibly modern, sexy reinvention of the original film, is a testament to the brilliant creators Donald Glover and Francesa Sloane. We are proud to bring you another season filled with unforgettable journeys and new adventures.”

It is being said that the ending of the first season perhaps led to the show leaning into becoming more of an anthology series with different spy couples taking up the identities of John and Jane Smith every season. Glover and Erskine’s characters would be the inaugural couple and this upcoming season would see different actors partake in a similar undercover assignment with some romantic complications. This announcement was a part of Amazon’s first-ever upfront event, which also announced an early renewal of another hit streaming title, The Boys.

While the title implies that the show is a reboot of the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the show’s plot would not exactly rehash the movie’s. In the official synopsis for season one, “Two lonely strangers land jobs working for a mysterious spy agency that offers them a glorious life of espionage, wealth, world travels, and a dream brownstone in Manhattan. The catch? New identities in an arranged marriage as Mr. and Mrs. John and Jane Smith.
Now hitched, John and Jane navigate a high-risk mission every week while also facing a new relationship milestone. Their complex cover story becomes even more complicated when they catch real feelings for
each other. What’s riskier: espionage or marriage?”

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Star Wars fans haven’t seen Lando Calrissian – that is, the Billy Dee Williams version – on the big screen in five years. But will we ever again? With so many Star Wars projects on the horizon, it’s possible that Lando could turn up in some corner of the galaxy…But would Williams ever don the cape again? Sure – provided you show him the dough.

As Billy Dee Williams told Radio Times on any potential return to the character, “Pay me a lot of money and I’ll sell my soul.” As portrayed by Williams, Lando Calrissian first appeared in 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back, a former friend of Han Solo’s and one-time owner of the Millennium Falcon, the lore of which would be explored later in the Star Wars saga. Williams would return as Lando for 1983’s Return of the Jedi but wouldn’t reprise the character again – in the flesh, at least – until the third entry in the latest trilogy, 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker.

But Billy Dee Williams has made a career out of Lando Calrissian, albeit primarily through voice work, having appeared in a number of Lego Star Wars productions (both on TV and in video games), not to mention odd one-offs on Robot Chicken and The Cleveland Show.

As of late, timeline shifts have bumped Williams for Donald Glover, who took over Lando for 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story. On Glover, Williams said, “He’s part of a whole new generation. He’ll create whatever he needs to create, to bring appeal to the character. He’s a very talented young lad and very imaginative. I mean, it’s not for me to say what he should do with the character at this stage. I took care of the 20th century, now he’s got to take care of the 21st.” And that he will, as the planned Lando Calrissian TV series has morphed into a planned movie.

Still, Williams keeps Lando close, and while he does have praise for Glover, there’s really only one man that comes to mind when you think of the character. “He’s a delightful young man. Extremely talented. But I don’t see him…I mean, when it comes to Lando Calrissian there’s only one Lando Calrissian. I created that character.”

Are you ready for Billy Dee Williams to return as Lando Calrissian or has that Falcon sailed? Drop your thoughts below!

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PLOT: Two lonely strangers land jobs working for a mysterious spy agency that offers them a glorious life of espionage, wealth, world travel, and a dream brownstone in Manhattan. The catch? New identities in an arranged marriage as Mr. and Mrs. John and Jane Smith. Now hitched, John and Jane navigate a high-risk mission every week while also facing a new relationship milestone. Their complex cover story becomes even more complicated when they catch real feelings for each other. What’s riskier: espionage or marriage?

REVIEW: The 2005 film, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, was one of the top-grossing films of the year despite mixed reviews. Written by Simon Kinberg and directed by Doug Liman, the movie was bolstered by the real-life romance between stars Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. The tabloid fodder of that relationship was free marketing for the film which was a mediocre action comedy about a married couple who do not know they are rival spies contracted to take each other out. The new series based on Mr. & Mrs. Smith keeps the marriage and spy elements of the film’s plot but completely transforms them into a unique tale that follows a relationship through all of its stages but with the added risk of death. Developed by Donald Glover and Francesca Sloane, this new Mr. & Mrs. Smith is dramatic, funny, violent, and so unlike the original film and its shortlived ABC spin-off that it deserves a spot on your watchlist.

Collaborating with many of the talented writers and directors he worked with on Atlanta, this unique take on Mr. & Mrs. Smith is nothing like what I expected. The opening scene of the premiere episode features Alexander Skarsgard and Eiza Gonzalez in a sequence that, at first, seems to be out of place with the series that follows. We then meet John Smith (Donald Glover) and Jane Smith (Maya Erskine) as they are interviewed separately. The job interview asks them to forsake their prior lives and enter a legal marriage with a complete stranger. The coupling will serve as a professional front for them to take on secret missions on behalf of the unnamed agency that employs them. John and Jane meet for the first time at their luxurious brownstone as they take on their first mission. From the first time they meet, John and Jane have sparks but keep things distant as they learn the ropes of being spies. By the end of the first episode, the stakes of their new career are apparent.

In an intriguing shift from the 2005 film, this Mr. & Mrs. Smith makes John and Jane fully aware of each other’s spying career as they are partners. The show then progresses through key relationship milestones as the episodes bear titles like “First Date”, “First Vacation”, “Do You Want Kids?”, “Couples Therapy” and more. The eight-episode series serves as a full timeline of a romantic relationship with the added twist of forcing these two characters into life-or-death missions. In one episode, John and Jane must contend with a kidnapping and ransom demand, and in another, they deal with administering truth serum to a target. Sometimes the missions work out and other times complications lead to the couple garnering a strike. Three strikes and they are out which strengthens their bond with each other as much as it pushes them apart. It is a very intriguing way of structuring this story but allows Donald Glover and Maya Erskine to command the majority of the series between themselves. Both actors are incredibly talented and their chemistry sells this series for me.

It also helps that there is a solid roster of guest stars including Parker Posey and Wagner Moura, Michaela Coel, John Turturro, Sharon Horgan, Billy Campbell, Ron Perlman, and Ursula Corbero. Sarah Paulson and Paul Dano have key roles as a therapist and the Smiths’ neighbor, respectively, who factor into the overall narrative of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. But, even with these amazing talents, the majority of the series centers on Glover and Erskine. Originally developed with Phoebe Waller-Bridge in the Jane role, Maya Erskine more than holds her own opposite Donald Glover. A story like this hinges on the interaction between the leads and the unique circumstances of the pair struggling with pretending to love each other and then actually falling for one another makes the awkwardness at the center something special. This story also thrives on the small and quiet moments between John and Jane as we see the roots of their relationship growing and fracturing organically.

Created by Francesca Sloane, a veteran writer, and producer on Fargo and Atlanta, alongside Donald Glover, Mr. & Mrs. Smith embraces the sometimes surreal elements of Atlanta and Swarm to tell stories that feel just a bit off. An entire episode focused on John and Jane meeting another pair of Smiths has so many strange moments that I could not tell if there was a twist coming. The tension in every episode is palpable and that is a kudos to the writing and directing teams on this series. Sloane wrote or co-wrote six of the eight episodes while Glover helped script two. They were joined by Stephen Glover, Carla Ching, Yvonne Hana Yi, Adamma EBo, Adanne Ebo, and Schuyler Pappas. Directing duties went to veteran collaborator Hiro Murai as well as cinematographer Christian Sprenger as well as Donald Glover himself. All of the talent involved helps shape this series into a structured narrative that echoes the feature film when bullets begin to fly between John and Jane at the end of the season. The action here is measured and used sparingly in each episode but balances the dialogue-heavy interactions which were amongst my favorite parts of this series.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a fantastic series that could end with this run of eight episodes or carry on for a second season as the finale is structured in a way that would work for either future path. The action is well done and the spycraft never feels outside of the realm of what realistic characters could do, but there are so many resonant moments in this series including broken bones, farts, and relationship minutae that work perfectly in the context of this story. Maya Erskine and Donald Glover make a great team and I feel this series eclipses the feature film that inspired it, mostly because this is absolutely nothing like it. Chock full of great music and one of the coolest on-screen apartments/homes in recent memory, Mr. & Mrs. Smith is the definitive spy-romcom/relationship drama and is a solid binge-watch this weekend.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith premieres all eight episodes on February 2nd on Prime Video.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith

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The new trailer for Amazon’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith has arrived just ahead of the series debut early next month. The series puts several twists on the formula. Firstly, the Doug Liman movie that the series is based on, which starred Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, had more of a True Lies-esque plot where a seemingly mundane suburban married couple discover that they both are secret agents and work for rival agencies. Here, the two are on an undercover mission as a married couple, and both may be in over their heads in many ways. Secondly, the two leads — Donald Glover and Maya Erskine — are normally known primarily for comedic roles and are dabbling in more action-oriented fare this time around.

The official synopsis from Amazon reads,
“Two lonely strangers land jobs working for a mysterious spy agency that offers them a glorious life of espionage, wealth, world travel, and a dream brownstone in Manhattan. The catch? New identities in an arranged marriage as Mr. and Mrs. John and Jane Smith. Now hitched, John and Jane navigate a high-risk mission every week while also facing a new relationship milestone. Their complex cover story becomes even more complicated when they catch real feelings for each other. What’s riskier: espionage or marriage?”

The ensemble of actors who make up the cast joining Glover and Erskine will be Alexander Skarsgård, Eiza González, Sarah Paulson, Sharon Horgan, Ron Perlman, Billy Campbell, Úrsula Corberó, Paul Dano, Michaela Coel, John Turturro, Parker Posey and Wagner Moura.

Donald Glover and Francesca Sloane are co-creators and executive producers of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, with Sloane (whose credits also include Fargo and Hulu’s The First) serving as showrunner. The two also previously collaborated on Glover’s hit comedy show on FX, Atlanta. The show is set to have eight episodes in its first season. All eight episodes are scheduled to premiere on Prime Video on February 2.

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Prime Video has just released the trailer for Donald Glover‘s new project, the action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith. While the series is based on the 2005 Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie movie of the same name, the story of the show is actually inverted from the film. Doug Liman’s comedy had Pitt and Jolie’s characters having sort of a True Lies-esque revelation where both realize their spouse has actually been a secret agent. Here, Glover is partnered with Maya Erskine as they’re both undercover as a married couple on a mission.

The official synopsis from Amazon reads,
“Two lonely strangers land jobs working for a mysterious spy agency that offers them a glorious life of espionage, wealth, world travel, and a dream brownstone in Manhattan. The catch? New identities in an arranged marriage as Mr. and Mrs. John and Jane Smith. Now hitched, John and Jane navigate a high-risk mission every week while also facing a new relationship milestone. Their complex cover story becomes even more complicated when they catch real feelings for each other. What’s riskier: espionage or marriage?”

The ensemble of actors who make up the cast joining Glover and Erskine will be Alexander Skarsgård, Eiza González, Sarah Paulson, Sharon Horgan, Ron Perlman, Billy Campbell, Úrsula Corberó, Paul Dano, Michaela Coel, John Turturro, Parker Posey and Wagner Moura.

Donald Glover and Francesca Sloane are co-creators and executive producers of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, with Sloane (whose credits also include Fargo and Hulu’s The First) serving as showrunner. The two also previously collaborated on Glover’s hit comedy show on FX, Atlanta. The show is set to have eight episodes in its first season. All eight episodes are scheduled to premiere on Prime Video on February 2.

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Mr. & Mrs. Smith is adding star power to the Prime Video series, starring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine as two lonely strangers who land jobs working for a mysterious spy agency that offers them a glorious life of espionage, wealth, world travels, and a dream brownstone in Manhattan. The extended cast for this series is positively absurd, so hang onto your hat as we list a murders’ row of talent joining the show.

Alexander Skarsgård, Eiza González, Sarah Paulson, Sharon Horgan, Ron Perlman, Billy Campbell, and Úrsula Corberó pop onto the action-tinged thriller, with Paul Dano, Michaela Coel, John Turturro, Parker Posey, and Wagner Moura. I told you it was absurd. Donald and Erskine already had me tuning in, but now I’m even more excited to join the stealthy couple for some gunplay and bedroom gymnastics.

All eight episodes will be available exclusively on Prime Video on February 2, 2024, in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide. Mr. & Mrs. Smith hails from co-creators and executive producers Donald Glover and Francesca Sloane (Atlanta, Fargo). The series, a reimagining of the 2005 film, stars Glover as John Smith and Maya Erskine as Jane Smith.

In this version of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, two lonely strangers land jobs working for a mysterious spy agency that offers them a glorious life of espionage, wealth, world travel, and a dream brownstone in Manhattan. The catch? New identities in an arranged marriage as Mr. and Mrs. John and Jane Smith. Now hitched, John and Jane navigate a high-risk mission every week while facing a new relationship milestone. Their complex cover story becomes even more complicated when they catch real feelings for each other. What’s riskier: espionage or marriage?

You have to think that with so many incredible actors joining the cast, some of them will play enemy agents. I could picture Perlman as a seasoned assassin, a master of deception with a taste for blood. Unfortunately, extended cast roles are under wraps, so we’ll need to wait and see how each actor fits into the story. Are you looking forward to Prime Video’s adaptation of Mr. & Mrs. Smith? Let us know in the comments below.

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Today, Prime Video announced the premiere date for Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the highly-anticipated action series starring Donald Glover (Atlanta, Community, Solo: A Star Wars Movie) and Maya Erskine (PEN 15, DC League of Super-Pets, Wine Country) as the lethal couple. All eight episodes will be available exclusively on Prime Video on February 2, 2024, in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide. In addition to announcing the Mr. & Mrs. Smith premiere date, Prime Video debuted a gallery of new images from the upcoming series.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith hails from co-creators and executive producers Donald Glover and Francesca Sloane (Atlanta, Fargo). The series, a reimagining of the 2005 film, stars Glover as John Smith and Maya Erskine as Jane Smith.

Here’s the official description of Mr. & Mrs. Smith courtesy of Prime Video:

In this version of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, two lonely strangers land jobs working for a mysterious spy agency that offers them a glorious life of espionage, wealth, world travel, and a dream brownstone in Manhattan. The catch? New identities in an arranged marriage as Mr. and Mrs. John and Jane Smith. Now hitched, John and Jane navigate a high-risk mission every week while facing a new relationship milestone. Their complex cover story becomes even more complicated when they catch real feelings for each other. What’s riskier: espionage or marriage?

The 2005 film, which was directed by Doug Liman and penned by Simon Kinberg, starred Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as a bored upper-middle-class married couple who were assassins belonging to competing agencies who had been assigned to kill each other. Mr & Mrs. Smith was a major box-office success at the time and was even the start of the real-life relationship between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Much like Donald Glover, who played Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story, Maya Erskine is also a member of the Star Wars family. She appears in Obi-Wan Kenobi as Sully Stark, a human dissident of an underground movement that helped smuggle surviving Jedi to safety.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith is nearly ready to give action fans a shot in the arm early next year on February 2, 2024. Will you tune in for Glover and Erskine’s action-packed showcase? Let us know in the comments below.

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Before the strikes brought Hollywood to a near-standstill, Dan Harmon, co-writer Andrew Guest, and Joel McHale pitched a Community movie, which Peacock gave an enthusiastic thumbs up. The film revolves around the Community gang reuniting for a Greendale Community College reunion, finally making good on the comedy’s promise of “six seasons and a movie.”

Harmon and Guest met at The Smoke House in early 2020, with Guest agreeing to board the long-gestating project. The duo’s first order of business was to determine who would return for the fan-craved feature.

“It became a very lengthy process because we wanted to include as much of the cast that wanted to be included and therefore needed to know who was interested before we knew what the movie was going to be,” recalls Guest while speaking with The Hollywood Reporter. “Because if we’re just making a movie with Jim Rash and Joel McHale, there’s a movie there, but we need to figure that out sooner rather than later.”

Thankfully, everyone except Chevy Chase was game to return. With McHale, Donald Glover, Alison Brie, Gillian Jacobs, Danny Pudi, and Yvette Nicole Brown ready to enroll in the follow-up film, the difficult task of syncing schedules could begin. While scenes could be shot individually if all were not available to share screen time, Harmon insists on having everyone present for that sweet Community chemistry.

“Because the thing that’s going to matter most to me as an audience member or to anybody who loved that show is seeing those people see each other,” Harmon says. “And they still love each other, and it’s not going to feel the same if you’re shooting them separately at different months in different locations.”

However, with the strikes throwing everything out of whack, Harmon is concerned about getting the band back together after the WGA and SAG-AFTRA smoke has cleared. “By the time we can re-coordinate, what are the odds that everyone’s schedule is going to once again align?”

Harmon is thinking about more than the stars. He’s also concerned about pleasing fans of the series. The Community movie carries tremendous hype on its shoulders, and Harmon does not want to screw it up. “I hate to say how terrified I am to do it wrong, because there’s a part of me that knows that that fear cannot possibly result in a good thing,” Harmon confesses. “And you’re not going to get anywhere doing an impression of what you think you should do or what you think they want, but I really don’t want to do it wrong, and it is truly terrifying.”

Do you think Harmon should be concerned about fans judging the Community movie too harshly? What’s your idea of a fantastic reunion for the Greendale gang? How many costume changes do you anticipate coming from Jim Rash’s Dean Pelton? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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There’s a disturbance in the force as Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian project is charting a new course. According to Glover’s brother and Atlanta EP, Stephen Glover, Lando is pivoting from a Disney+ series to a feature film. Deadline confirmed the information, giving Star Wars fans something to look forward to after the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are resolved.

“It’s not even a show,” Glover said. “The idea right now is to do a movie,” he added. “Right now, because of the strike, it’s like a game of telephone.”

Glover’s young Lando Calrissian debuted in Ron Howard’s Solo: A Star Wars Story. Unfortunately, the film arrived more curdled than a warm jar of blue Bantha milk at the box office with a $392.9M worldwide total. Despite the film’s failure, Calrissian remains a fan-favorite character, especially after Billy Dee Williams reprised the iconic role in multiple Star Wars projects.

PTFO SOURCES: The new Star Wars show about Lando Calrissian — made by Donald Glover and @Steve_G_Lover — is not supposed to be a show.

It's a movie.

? Full episode: https://t.co/IQzGDgbQSb pic.twitter.com/byp60HRZ6k

— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) September 14, 2023

In December 2020, an investor call said Lando would join the Disney+ Star Wars lineup. However, Disney is slowing its roll regarding content for significant IPs, including Star Wars and Marvel. Some fans insist the bubble has burst for superheroes and space wizards. The downtime created by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes could be the gap the studio needs to reset the board.

Meanwhile, Donald Glover stars alongside Maya Erskine in the forthcoming Mr. & Mrs. Smith series coming to Prime Video in early 2024.

Here’s the official synopsis for Mr. & Mrs. Smith:

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. Mr. & Mrs. Smith will be a part of the savings, convenience, and entertainment that Prime members enjoy in a single membership.

What do you think about Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian project becoming a feature film? Is the streaming era steadily coming to an end? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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Fresh off the news that Bob Iger wanted to pull back on Star Wars and Marvel-related content, there are brand new developments emerging for the streaming series that will explore more of Lando Calrissian’s story in the galaxy that is said to be located far, far away. A couple of weeks ago, Disney’s CEO, Bob Iger, spoke to CNBC about lowering the amount of production for their two major properties in order to cut costs. “You pull back not just to focus, but also as part of our cost containment initiative. Spending less on what we make, and making less,” Iger explained. However, the planning of the Star Wars spin-off continues.

According to Above the Line, Donald Glover, who had donned the cape in portraying Lando for Solo: A Star Wars Story, will be taking on writing duties with his brother, Stephen Glover. This comes after the director of Haunted Mansion, Justin Simien, made his departure from the project, which had been announced by Kathleen Kennedy on Disney Investor Day back in 2020. Glover had played a younger incarnation of the role, famously played by Billy Dee Williams. And while both have filled the shoes of the Cloud City mayor fairly recently, there hasn’t been confirmation on either actor if they would be returning to play Calrissian.

As Simien’s Haunted Mansion opens this week, the director was recently asked by The Hollywood Reporter if he was still involved with the project. Simien would reply, “I am attached, I think, but I don’t really know. (Laughs.) The last thing I was told was that they loved it but needed to put a pin in it until they could figure out everybody’s availability. I haven’t investigated further, but I’m not an idiot. It seems like I develop things with these companies and they just never happen for reasons unknown.”

It was learned later that Simien had decided to leave the project last summer when he wanted to put his focus on Haunted Mansion. It was then discovered that the Glover brothers had been secretly involved with the Lando project for months but were not able to work on it, especially recently with the WGA strike starting last May.

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