[Editor’s note: The following contains major spoilers for Mr. & Mrs. Smith]

The Big Picture

Donald Glover and showrunner Francesca Sloane wanted to take a big swing and surprise viewers with their own unique take on ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith.’ Working with Glover made Sloane feel more courageous and allowed her to find her own voice in creating the show. The pairing of Glover and Maya Erskine complements each other well and both actors are willing to be vulnerable and play their characters with realism.

From co-creators Donald Glover and Francesca Sloane, the Prime Video original eight-episode action series Mr. & Mrs. Smith is unexpected in all the best ways, as it follows two lonely strangers (Glover and Maya Erskine) known as John and Jane Smith. After inserting their fingernail clippings into a machine and answering a series of questions, the two are paired together by a mysterious spy agency to complete high-risk missions as a married couple. Although weary of each other at the start and reluctant to share tidbits about who they really are, the more they have to work together and the more their guards come down, the lines become blurred and feelings complicate everything.

Forget whatever you think this series will be and the preconceived notions you might have, if you’ve seen the 2005 movie starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, and instead just take the ride that it sets out for you. If you do, you’ll take a relationship journey with two lonely people who find a connection among the chaos. As their chemistry becomes tangibly electric and they get better at completing their missions, they find themselves in a place of wondering what they would do if they were pitted against each other.

After watching the series, Collider got the opportunity to chat with showrunner Sloane about all things Mr. & Mrs. Smith, break down the season, dig into how the finale episode evolved, and find out about plans for a possible Season 2. Not only did she give great insight into all of that, but Sloane (who was a writer/supervising producer on Atlanta) also talked about finding the strength of her voice in the support she’s received through her collaborative relationship with Glover, sewing a quilt of creepy details for this series, their reality TV inspiration, and their incredible guest cast.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith Two strangers land jobs with a spy agency that offers them a life of espionage, wealth, and travel. The catch: new identities in an arranged marriage. Release Date February 2, 2024 Creator Francesca Sloane, Donald Glover Seasons 1

Donald Glover Envisioned ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ as a Big Swing
Image via Prime Video

Collider: You’ve said that when Donald Glover first asked if you wanted to make this, you thought he was kidding around. Looking at the finished product now, it’s clear to see that you guys have your own take on the idea. But in those early conversations, what was it that most excited you about what it could be?

SLOANE: Honestly, there were a few things. The first thing was that Donald had expressed it as a big swing, allowing us to take something that could be that big and making it our own. Just that idea, in and of itself, was great. The idea of surprising people was really intriguing to me. But then, in terms of artistically, really playing to our strengths, which is telling the in between moments and doing that within the world of an action series, felt really great. And also, telling a really human story and making this relationship the centerpiece of the series felt like a really exciting thing to do and something that I could lend my voice to, in a way that actually made sense.

Going into this, what did you already enjoy most about that collaborative relationship that you established with Donald Glover? What do you like about working with him and telling stories with him?

SLOANE: I love this question because it’s such an easy one to answer. Donald’s one of my closest friends. He taught me what it means to work with somebody that already speaks the same language as you and having that shorthand. Even if we ever creatively disagree, it’s always still cloaked under this version of us understanding each other artistically, as human beings. We laugh constantly. We laugh at things that people shouldn’t laugh at. We’re like the naughty kids that snicker at the exact wrong moments at the exact same time, and then make the other one laugh harder. And there’s such a level of honesty between us and we try to bring that, in terms of how we write characters, how we write scenes, and lending things from our lives. It’s just very, very easy with him. We get each other and that’s something that you don’t find with many people in any relationship, let alone creatively.

Do you feel like that also really helped you find your own voice in doing something like this? Clearly, something like this would be intimidating, and I know for me, if I walk into a room of people, I’m not naturally the first to speak up. Does it help to have somebody like that to really be comfortable in your voice?

SLOANE: You and I both. Yeah, 100%. I call it the Donald effect. I feel like I got so lucky that I had this person who is already such an individual, strong voice and somebody who’s really become a legend in his own right, advocating for me and trusting me and having similar sensibilities. It definitely made me have a lot more courage. Having his support meant everything, behind the scenes, in front of the scenes, and in all the ways. Yeah, he made me a lot more brave, that’s for sure.

Related ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ Review: Donald Glover and Maya Erskine Are a Match Made in Spy Heaven The Prime Video series also boasts impressive guest stars in Paul Dano, Sharon Horgan, Michaela Coel, and Sarah Paulson.

What was it like on this set, where you’re the showrunner, you’ve created this with Donald, and he’s co-lead, as an actor? What was that communication like on set?

SLOANE: Definitely. Donald, as the actor, is very different in some ways than Donald, the writer/creator. The thing that stays consistent is that there’s an authenticity in it and the shorthand between us was really good. I just can’t believe how much he trusted me. Thank God, he trusted me as much as he did because he really took on so much with the show. He and Maya [Erskine] are in every single scene. It’s a huge scope. There’s also action. It’s also emotionally really taxing. And so, the fact that he really trusted and leaned on me to run the ship as much as he did was definitely terrifying. Ultimately, it really was such a satisfying experience and something that I’ll hold dear forever. No matter what happens after this, this is one of the moments in my life that I’ll hold as a treasure, for sure.

‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ Was Inspired By Reality TV
Image via Prime Video

Who do you have to be to insert your fingernails into a machine that asks you personal questions and then marries you off to a stranger that you have to complete missions with?

SLOANE: We love all those creepy little details like that. It’s a quilt of creepy details. That’s how we tell our stories. I can return the question of, who gets engaged through a wall without ever meeting somebody, which would be like Love is Blind. Who gets married to a stranger, which would be Married at First Sight. Right now, and especially in today’s society, that was a big question that we had. Why would people do this? Is it loneliness? Is it wanting something bigger than what they currently have? Is it money? Is it fame? Is it some twisted combination of all of those things? But I think that is a good question for the series. Why would they do this? Ultimately, I do think subconsciously it was their loneliness, but I don’t think outwardly that the two of them know that when they immediately decide to do this.

I feel like if anyone ever told me to just put some fingernails in a baggie, I’d be like, “Nope, I’m out of here.”

SLOANE: I think that means that you are a sane individual and I’m very happy for you.

What do you most enjoy about the pairing between Donald Glover and Maya Erskine? I love the two of them together. I love how different they are as people, but also how different their characters are.

SLOANE: They really complement each other. In the ways that they’re different, in the way they perform their characters, there’s this warmth to John. Donald called him a golden retriever. And she’s a little bit more like a cat. She’s a little bit more reserved and you have to really break down the walls to see her warmth. But the thing that’s similar between them, which is great, is that they’re both down to be vulnerable in their performances. They’re both funny. They’re both awkward. They play things really real. You really believe them. And they’re very good at what’s unsaid, in addition to what is said. There’s a really naturalistic thing there. And also, they just cracked each other up constantly, which was just adorable and helped with the chemistry so much.

Donald Glover’s Romantic Side Led to the Inclusion of The Prophet in ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’
Image via Prime Video

I’m always so interested in the little details of something. What made you want to include The Prophet as a talking point? When you can pick any book, what is the thought process and conversation around what you ultimately choose?

SLOANE: This is an anecdote for Donald, but in the early days, we were talking about moments of knowing when you love someone, and he had this really sweet story about his now wife. The two of them, on one of their early dates, sat around in a park. He laid his head in her lap and she read him pages of The Prophet. I also had my own romantic tie to it. And then, we started talking about things that exist in the book, such as philosophies about joy being paired with pain and sadness, and how those things converge. We realized, “Yeah, this is probably the book for them.” It works really well. It’s sentimental to us. It makes sense for the story. That’s why we landed on The Prophet. I hope Donald isn’t upset that I’m like, “He’s so romantic, he laid his head in his wife’s lap.”

This series has one hell of an opening scene. Was that always the way it was going to start? Did you know that you wanted recognizable actors for that scene?

SLOANE: That’s a great question. The full truth is actually, no, we arrived at that. We realized that it would be very exciting to hand over what would be expected of a Mr. and Mrs. Smith. By having Eiza [González] and having Alex [Skarsgård], these two very conventionally gorgeous people at the beginning, showed what it could have been and what it would look like, had it been put in other creators’ hands. And then, what happens if you blow that whole thing up and deliver them our show, but still have it work in terms of the story, and it still actually has weight in terms of our world and our series. That’s how we came up with that beginning, and that did come later down the line of us creating the show.

I love how you have these little showcases of all these different guest actors on the episodes. Did you know who would be guesting in a specific episode and create the character for them? Did any of those roles really change because of who you cast?

SLOANE: The cast was my dream come true. For instance, for the episode with Michaela Coel, we wrote that part with Michaela in mind. Donald’s friends with her, and she read the script and, thank God, she said yes. We first cast John Turturro as their target in episode two and Paul Dano as the hot neighbor. From there, we were like, “This is definitely the world. We need character actors. We need the unexpected. We need the grounded. And we need to do fun things with them. And then, we got Parker Posey. We kept going down that tunnel, and it’s a tunnel that is my childhood dream come true. I can’t believe we got the people that we got.

Paul Dano Stuck Around Longer Than Initially Expected on ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’
Image via Prime Video

Was it ever hard to say goodbye to your guest cast, since most of them were there for such a short time?

SLOANE: Yeah, it was hard. Every single time, I gave every single guest actor a funny little gift because they were all just so special and great. Everyone was so much fun, and it was hard to say goodbye. As a writer, it was also hard to say goodbye. We kept Paul [Dano] longer than we were going to initially because we loved working with him so much, and he did such a good job. We made him have a longer character story because of that.

Did you know his purpose from the beginning?

SLOANE: We definitely knew that we wanted to play with the idea of the trope of the mysterious neighbor questioning them. But we did not know where it was going to go. And then, we came up with something that’s unexpected and very much our style of how you would wrap something like that up.

Related Where To Watch ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’: How to Stream the Donald Glover Series Fans of Maya Erskine and Donald Glover are eager to see this highly anticipated TV show.

How was the last episode of the season conceived? Did you go into that knowing that you wanted to have these two against each other for most of it? It’s a relentless episode, as far as them just at each other the whole time. What was that like to figure out?

SLOANE: We always knew that, at some point, we wanted to deliver upon the concept of the movie. We knew we wanted to get there, we just wanted to do it our way. So, yes, that was definitely something we always knew, but we wanted to show how these two people would arrive to that in a way that felt very real. That’s why we constructed everything with that as the goal point.

Was there anything that you wanted to do in that episode that you couldn’t do, for whatever reason?

SLOANE: That’s a great question, too. One of my favorite filmmakers is this long-form filmmaker named James Benning, who literally makes films about planes descending into the sky and then disappearing in real time. So for me, I would have had that truth serum sequence be an hour and a half long in real time, with people confessing everything, which I wasn’t allowed to do. I think that would have been something. Other than that, we checked off every box. I’m very satisfied. Donald did a great job directing that episode and everybody did a good job in pitching in and making it exactly what we wanted it to be.

‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ Showrunner Francesca Sloane Feels Bad About Killing the Cat
Image via Prime Video

Whose idea was it to shoot and kill the cat? Why did the cat have to be sacrificed?

SLOANE: You know what’s so funny? I don’t remember who decided that we had to kill the cat. I just know that we were all on board with it, which means we’re all very twisted, horrible people. I just recently adopted a cat, and now I’m having different feelings about it because I have such an attachment to my cat. I feel really bad that we did that, but it’s too late.

It’s one of those moments where these two people are brutally trying to kill each other, and other people are killing each other, but I was still upset about what happened to the cat.

SLOANE: It’s one of those things, man. I don’t know what it is. It’s like, “Just don’t harm the pets. You can pillage a village, but just don’t harm the pets.”

Did you always want to get those characters to the point where they would reveal their real names to each other?

SLOANE: Yeah, that was definitely part of the whole idea. We wanted to eventually get to a place where these two, who started off as basically lying to each other, would need to say all the things and all the truth would have to come out. At that point, that’s true vulnerability and truly knowing someone. There is something about spy movies. There’s always this cat-and-mouse and this coyness, and how do you break that down entirely, in terms of character and genre? So, yes, we definitely knew we wanted to go there.

‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’s Co-Creators Have a Cool Idea for Season 2
Image via Prime Video

Is there a plan for a second season? Do you know what a second season would look like and what story you’d want to tell?

SLOANE: Yeah. We are very, very happy with the way that we told Season 1 as a complete story, but 100%, we definitely have a full idea for a Season 2. Donald and I are in the business of trying to beat ourselves, so if we were to do a Season 2, we would wanna make sure that we could surpass and beat Season 1 and I think we have a cool idea for it.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith is available to stream on Prime Video. Check out the trailer:

Watch on Prime Video