Donald Glover and Maya Erskine star in the new series “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” which is inspired by the 2005 film starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. The show, which is available to stream on Prime Video, has received positive reviews and it has also become a hit for the platform.
According to FlixPatrol, the eight-part series is currently (as Feb. 4th) the number 1 series on the platform both worldwide and in the US. The show was created by Glover and Francesca Sloane, who also was the producer of “Atlanta.”
Sloane and Glover took inspiration from the 2005 film, as well as Alfred Hitchcock’s films, Ingmar Bergman, and reality show such as “Married At First Sight,” per Sloane. However, if you have watched the film, you still are up to many surprises as the series doesn’t follow the same storyline.
What is ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’ about?
The series stars Glover and Erskine as two agents and strangers who sign their lives over to a mysterious organization and pose as a married couple. Actually, the show has the same premise as the 1996 series of the same name, but, according to Slash Film, no one from the new show has spoken publicly about it (so, it probably just a coincidence).
In an interview with Deadline, Sloane said that they wanted to change the premise with the question: “What would a series feel like if our heroes weren’t the two most beautiful people on the planet, but instead, were two lonely people, two underdogs, wanting more from life than what they currently had? What if our John and Jane could be anyone, could be you and me?”
One of the critics who have praised the most of the new series is the casting and the chemistry between Glover and Erskine, who have been friends since high school. Originally, the role of Jane was for Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who left the project amicably due to creative differences.
However, thankfully for the series, the new couple works. Apart from the duo, the rest of the cast includes big A-listers as guests: Alexander Skarsgård, Eiza González, Paul Dano, John Turturro, Sharon Horgan, Billy Campbell, Sarah Paulson, Parker Posey, Úrsula Corberó, Wagner Moura, Ron Perlman, Toby Hellinger, and Michaela Coel.
