Donald Glover and Maya Erskine debut new, more relatable “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”

Co-creator/star Glover, star Erskine, and co-creator Francesca Sloane tell EW their Prime Video series isn’t trying to remake Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s 2005 movie.

Donald Glover hopes people hate his new version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Of course, he wants people to love it too, but any strong reaction, good or bad, would be preferable over viewers wondering why he set out to reimagine Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's 2005 spy movie of the same name.

"It's definitely going to be different for a lot of people, which I think is good," Glover tells EW 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.'"

Co-created by Glover and Francesca Sloane (Atlanta, Fargo), Mr. & Mrs. Smith stars Glover and Maya Erskine (Pen15) as the titular spy couple. But this isn't a remake of Pitt and Jolie's Mr. & Mrs. Smith — while the movie centered on a married couple realizing they’re both spies working for rival agencies who have been hired to kill each other, this is a completely different story about two lonely strangers who sign up for a mysterious spy agency, unaware their new identities are a package deal as a married couple. As they complete high-risk missions together, their arranged marriage slowly becomes something more real. But can they ever really trust each other if their entire relationship is built on lies?

"I had never seen the movie, which I know was sacrilege," Glover admits. But when a producer friend of his acquired the rights to the film, he finally gave it a shot. "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?'"

Glover wished it explored something deeper, which is why he began thinking about doing a TV reimagining that would tackle modern ideas of marriage and relationships. "Why do people even get married anymore? Half of it ends in divorce — what's the purpose?" Glover says. "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."

Sloane previously worked with Glover on his FX series Atlanta, and when he pitched her his idea for a new Mr. & Mrs. Smith, she actually thought he was joking. "He has a really odd sense of humor and that felt like a very odd choice for us to do," Sloane tells EW with a laugh. "But once we talked further about the take that we would do, it made total sense and I got really excited. 2020 really affected the way that we were viewing relationships, and we started to realize the things that really mattered when something like that is happening to the world is love and trust and a comfortable nest to take care of that love. In terms of John and Jane, how do you have a foundation of trust when what you're best at is being a good spy and being an expert liar? How are you then vulnerable with each other at home if what makes you strong at your job requires a lot of distrust?"

In the early stages of the series, Fleabag's Phoebe Waller-Bridge was attached to play Jane until she amicably exited the role due to creative differences. When Glover began talking with Erskine about joining the show, she had no idea it was to play Jane. "A lot of people would say that I'm just like Angelina Jolie and that we're really similar," Erskine deadpans before breaking into a laugh. "No, I'm kidding. I obviously couldn't be further from her. I tend to play characters that feel like rejects of society, and my Jane felt like it was the reject version of Angelina Jolie. It wouldn't ever be her. It could never be."

That’s why Erskine jumped at the chance to play Jane — once Glover finally clued her in to what his vision for the much more relatable series would be. "Angelina and Brad are untouchable in that you can't recreate that, and Donald and I are just so different so it felt exciting to play a couple that you might recognize as your friends or yourselves," Erskine says. "You could see yourself in these characters, but they're spies. They’ve created an analogy for relationships against the backdrop of this espionage thriller, so it has all the intricacies and nuance and flaws of a real relationship story, but with life or death stakes. What people will be surprised about is that this show is really about marriage."

And they’re not shying away from any aspect — the good, the bad, or the ugly — of relationships and espionage. "You get your cake and you get to eat it too, because you get the explosions, the chases, the fight scenes and the sex, but you also get to see the nuances of a relationship, with the fart jokes and what it's like to live with somebody and be annoyed by their mouth noises after being together for six months," Erskine says. "And the missions that they are given are pretty seemingly low stakes at first, and they start to get bigger and scarier as it goes on."

While the stakes of the missions definitely ramp up as the season progresses, it’s the stakes of the relationship that interested Glover the most. "You watch The Golden Bachelor and it’s such a different show than the regular [Bachelor] — you actually care about these people, and because they're older, it feels like this may not happen again," he says, pausing before he adds, "Sorry, I watched The Golden Bachelor last night so it's top of mind, but you hear what I'm saying. It's really about their relationship and can they trust each other? That's all spying is. Are you lying to me? Is this real? Is this really happening or is this just to get in my pants?" He laughs as he adds, "So yeah, Golden Bachelor was very inspirational for our show."

Other big inspirations were Get Smart and the first Mission: Impossible movie, since Glover was a big fan of the spy genre growing up. But he wanted to use Mr. & Mrs. Smith to finally subvert so many things he’s seen glamorized onscreen — like getting rid of a dead body. "That was the scene we had wanted to do from the beginning of the show: What is it like having to get rid of a body for real if you've never done it before?" he says. "It's just awkward and horrible, and it's not glamorous at all. People always skip that part in the movie."

Expect to see many more "sleek" spy moments like that turned on its head throughout the season. "While we do have iconic travel and really glamorous shoot-'em-ups and whatnot, the essence of the show is, at one point, a character running home after chasing bad guys all day and taking their shoe off and actually seeing a blister because they wore the wrong shoes," Sloane says. "We’re humanizing them. We want to know exactly what a spy does when they have to go to the bathroom. That's the thesis of the show."

Erskine remembers filming a fart scene that she calls her favorite of the season. "That was really the most relatable moment for me," she says. "It sounds sexy, doesn't it?"

"You know what's so funny? I'm trying to figure out which scene she's talking about," Glover admits with a laugh. "I'm like, 'Which one?' The whole show is basically spy stuff vs. the ordinary. None of it's the easy way out."

All eight episodes of Mr. & Mrs. Smith debut Feb. 2, 2024, on Prime Video. Check out EW's exclusive first look photos above.

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Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.