Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024 TV series)

American spy comedy-drama television series

6 min read

Mr. & Mrs. Smith is an American spy television series created by Francesca Sloane and Donald Glover, which premiered on February 2, 2024. It is inspired by the 2005 film of the same name, although instead of following a married couple of competing spies like the film, the series stars Glover and Maya Erskine as two strangers paired up as a duo of spies who must live undercover as a married couple; instead of real names, John and Jane Smith are aliases given to the characters and the other agents working for the same organization.

Arnon Milchan, who was a producer on the original film, is an executive producer for the series alongside, among others, Sloane, Glover, Glover's brother Stephen, Hiro Murai, Anthony Katagas, and Michael Schaefer. The series was renewed for a second season with Anna Ouyang Moench taking over as showrunner.

The show received positive reviews from critics, who particularly praised the performances and Glover and Erskine's chemistry. It received 16 Primetime Emmy Award nominations for its first season, including nominations for Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actor for Glover, Outstanding Lead Actress for Erskine, and five acting nominations for some of the featured guests.

Premise

Two strangers independently agree to become secret agents for a mysterious organization under cover as a married couple using the names "John" and "Jane" Smith. The couple must work through missions as their espionage skills, and developing relationship, are put to the test. All instructions are received from an anonymous source via text. The Smiths take on a separate mission in each of eight episodes and the show features different locales while also focusing on the marital relationship the two characters assume.

Cast

Main

Season 1

Donald Glover as John Smith / Michael
Maya Erskine as Jane Smith / Alana

Season 2

Mark Eydelshteyn as Mr. Smith
Sophie Thatcher as Mrs. Smith

Guest

Season 1

Alexander Skarsgård as First Other John
Eiza González as First Other Jane
Paul Dano as Harris Materbach
John Turturro as Eric Shane
Sharon Horgan as Gavol Martin
Billy Campbell as Parker Martin
Sarah Paulson as Therapist
Parker Posey as Second Other Jane
Úrsula Corberó as Runi
Wagner Moura as Second Other John
Ron Perlman as Toby Hellinger
Michaela Coel as Bev

Additionally, Beverly Glover, who is Donald's mother in real life, makes her acting debut as Denise, John Smith's mother.

Episodes

Production

On February 12, 2021, it was announced that a TV series reboot based on the original film, created by and starring Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, with Francesca Sloane as co-creator and showrunner, would premiere on Prime Video in 2022. The original film was directed by Doug Liman and starred Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Waller-Bridge exited the project in September 2021 due to creative differences with Glover. On April 7, 2022, it was reported that Maya Erskine would take over Waller-Bridge's role.

On June 29, 2022, it was reported that Michaela Coel, John Turturro, and Paul Dano would appear in guest star roles. On September 22, 2022, it was reported that Parker Posey and Wagner Moura had joined the cast in recurring roles.

In addition to Glover and Sloane, the series was executive produced by Yariv Milchan, Arnon Milchan, Michael Schaefer, Stephen Glover, Anthony Katagas, Hiro Murai, Nate Matteson, and Jenny Robins. Filming began in the summer of 2022.

On May 14, 2024, Amazon Prime Video renewed the series for a second season, with Sloane returning as showrunner. However, whether Glover and Erskine are returning or not is unclear. On December 6, 2024, it was announced that Mark Eydelshteyn was cast to star for the second season. On February 14, 2025, it was announced that Sophie Thatcher was in talks to star for the second season. On July 2, 2025, it was reported that the second season is set to be filmed in Los Angeles. The first season was filmed in New York and Italy. Production for the second season had to be postponed in September 2025 due to issues with the cast, and during the delay Sloane's overall deal with Amazon MGM studios ended. Anna Ouyang Moench was hired to be the showrunner for season two as the production got ready to resume in early 2026 to preserve the California tax credit it would receive for relocating the production.

Release

On September 23, 2022, it was reported that the release date for the series had been pushed back from 2022 to 2023.

Amidst the 2023 Hollywood strikes, Amazon delayed the release from 2023 to "early 2024". All eight episodes of the series were released on February 2, 2024, on Prime Video.

Marketing

A series of guerrilla marketing stunts were used to promote the series. On January 19, 2024, a pair of shoes were stolen at an art exhibit after the lights went out. On January 24, two furries sat next to Tyra Banks at a basketball game. On January 25, a comedy show featuring Mark Normand was interrupted when two unknown people rushed the stage. Social media posts about these events had advertisement disclaimers but did not specify the product being advertised. Gothamist found that marketing firm Verb had put out casting calls for the "HiHi Mission Contest" that would take place at a "culture event in New York City". The comedy show was a taping by HiHi, according to the comedy club, that influencers had been invited to.

Reception

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 91% approval rating, with an average rating of 7.6/10, based on 119 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Building on the basic premise of its source material, Mr. & Mrs. Smith anchors its spy hijinks in a relationship drama fueled by the chemistry between its charming leads." On Metacritic, the series holds a weighted average score of 76 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".