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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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.

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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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Following the box office success of Mr. & Mrs. Smith starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, ABC went into development on a TV series based on the concept two years after the film was released in 2005. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were a bit too big to head to network television at the time so The Fast and the Furious star, Jordana Brewster and Martin Henderson were tapped to take on the roles that Jolie and Pitt played in the film and they brought with them the same behind-the-scenes creative team of the movie, consisting of director Doug Liman and writer Simon Kinberg.  All signs pointed to this high-profile pilot going to series but, while the pilot was produced, ABC ultimately passed on it.

During a chat on "Collider Ladies Night", while promoting Fast 9, Brewster reflected on the failure of the pilot going to series and what that meant to her at the time as a young actress:

“I don’t think it’s ever a matter of brushing it off and moving on to the next pilot. The only thing that helped me be more sane in the industry was going to school because then I had something that kept me super, super busy and super focused and it was like they complimented each other perfectly. But it not getting picked up crushed me because it was like, we had all the elements.”

The pilot was set to follow in the footsteps of the hit movie by picking up six months after the events of the film, with Jane and John Smith’s relationship being put to the test yet again. Writer Simon Kinberg described the television series as "Married… with Children with guns" and when the pilot was announced, there was a lot of hype surrounding it, mostly because the film was so successful and the creative minds behind the movie were attached, adding a bit of credibility to the project. Even though Brewster was disappointed that the pilot didn't move forward, she admits that she was in a different phase of her career and needed a reality check when it came to delivering her best work:

“We had all the elements for success and yet ABC didn’t pick it up. And I think it was the tone that was wrong. I think also I was in a phase of my career where – I now go to class every week, I now have an acting coach that I will defer to for everything. I will work on something endlessly. I think back then, I was probably like 24, 25 so I was like, ‘I have this whole thing figured out.’ Actually I think that was an important road bump because it taught me, ‘Girl, you’ve gotta get to work. You don’t have it all figured out.’ And so it was a nice kick in the ass I think, ultimately.”

Mr. & Mrs. Smith, released in 2005, was directed by Doug Liman and written by Simon Kinberg. The film stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as a bored upper-middle-class married couple surprised to learn that they are assassins belonging to competing agencies and that they have been assigned to kill each other. The film earned a 60% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes but it was an even bigger hit with moviegoers, grossing $186.3 million domestically and $478.2 million worldwide. A lot of the reason for the film's success was that it established Pitt and Jolie's personal relationship as there was much speculation about whether or not the duo hooked up during filming while Pitt was still with Jennifer Aniston. Ultimately Pitt and Jolie did get together, adopted and had a few kids, divorced, and pretty much dashed any hopes for a sequel in the process.  

As for the ABC pilot, I was able to find it on YouTube when can be seen below. Having viewed some of it, I can see why ABC passed on it. Jordana Brewster and Martin Henderson are fine but it's the combustible chemistry of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie that made the film work and that was lacking a bit here. Still interesting to look back on though.

Do YOU think the Mr. & Mrs. Smith pilot should've moved forward?

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Here's an interesting collaboration in the works — Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge will be teaming up for a new spin on Mr. & Mrs. Smith for Amazon Prime Video and New Regency. The project, which they have co-created with Francesca Sloane (Fargo), is said to be a TV series reboot of the 2005 feature-film of the same name which starred Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. The series will be released in 2022.

Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who starred together in Solo: A Star Wars Story, revealed the series in their Instagram Stories, which were then shared by Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke.

"Talk about the dream team! Donald and Phoebe are two of the most talented creators and performers in the world. It’s truly a dream for us, as it will be for our global audience, to have these two forces of nature collaborating as a powerhouse creative team," Salke said in a statement. "'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' is an iconic property, and we can’t wait to see how Donald, Phoebe and Francesca make it their own. We’re thrilled to be working with them, and with such great partners at New Regency." The 2005 film, which was directed by Doug Liman and penned by Simon Kinberg, centered on a board upper middle-class married couple who are actually assassins belonging to competing agencies who have 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.

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After the chemistry on the set of their first on screen collaboration, Doug Liman‘s MR. AND MRS. SMITH, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt ditched their significant others to make beautiful babies together. Fast forward almost a decade and the pair are preparing to reunite on the big screen, this time in a film written by Jolie.

Deadline is reporting that the project is in the very early stages but I would venture to guess the two Hollywood megastars will get this movie to the big screen sooner rather than later. Jolie has ventured away from acting to focus on humanitarian efforts and directing while Pitt has continued to be a huge star both acting and as a producer. Whether this project turns out to be a drama or another action-centric movie for the pair, it will undoubtedly be a success.

There are very little details as to what the plot of the film is, but Jolie’s two directorial credits, IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY and this year’s UNBROKEN, both deal with perseverance and the triumph of the human spirit. Both actors have very strong political and social beliefs so I would venture to guess this will not be just a popcorn flick.

Stay tuned for more details as they develop. Angelina Jolie will next be seen in MALEFICENT on May 30th while Brad Pitt will star in David Ayer‘s FURY which is due November 14th.

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	Review Date: Director: Doug Liman Writer: Simon Kinberg Producers: Lucas Foster, Akiva Goldsman, Eric McLeod, Arnon Milchan, Patrick Wachsberger Actors: Brad Pitt as John Angelina Jolie as Jane Vince Vaughn as Eddie

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