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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Lifestyle
Vicky Jessop

Donald Glover dodges bullets in the new Mr & Mrs Smith trailer

Attention eager fans, a first look at the upcoming Mr & Mrs Smith reboot is finally here, in the shape of a new trailer.

Starring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine, the trailer introduces us to the couple, who are working as an undercover married couple to disguise their real jobs as employees of a mysterious spy organisation (hence their ‘names’: John and Jane).

In the trailer, we see the couple getting to know each other over a cup of coffee (including the immortal line, “Have you ever killed anyone?”), posing as computer software engineers at a dinner with friends and neighbours, and wielding guns galore – one scene shows them moving a dead body around their bathroom.

It also looks like, despite their business relationship, romance does eventually blossom too, with the pair sharing a kiss.

It’s a subtly different dynamic to the original 2005 film, which starred Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt as the murderous duo – in the film, neither person was aware that the other was a spy.

The series logline also leans hard into this. "Meet The Smiths,” it says. “Two strangers, John and Jane, who have given up their lives and identities to be thrown together as partners – both in espionage and in marriage.”

Co-created by Glover alongside Atlanta writer Francesca Sloane, the series boasts a star-studded cast, with Paul Dano, Ron Pearlman, Michaela Coel, Alexander Skarsgard, Sharon Horgan and Sarah Paulson also making an appearance (Dano seems to be the couple’s neighbour).

It’s not the first time Glover, who also releases music as Childish Gambino, has collaborated with Prime Video: he helped produce satirical horror series Swarm, which launched earlier this year.

Originally, the role of Mrs Smith was set to be played by Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who would also have come on board as co-executive producer; however, Waller-Bridge left the show in September 2021. Speaking about it later, she added that all new projects are “like a marriage… some marriages don’t work out.”

The trailer itself was met with mixed reactions from fans: one person wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that "you know what really made the original great? The charm, the actual comedy. Every1 wanted to be them in their heads. They could’ve called this something else. But it’s not Mr. & Mrs. Smith."

However, others were more keen: “As much as I hate a remake, Im kinda excited about Mr & Mrs Smith,” another said. “I like that fact it doesn't look like how I/we expected. Even tho "sexy" is a part of the brand.”

Mr & Mrs Smith will launch on Prime Video from February 2.

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