“Season 2 of ‘Mr. & Mrs. Smith’ in the Works, Showrunner Drops Hints about Icon Guest Stars”
When Donald Glover announced he was remaking the feature action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith as an Amazon Prime series, few in the industry probably had this finished product on their bingo cards. Part meditation on relationships, part case-of-the-week showpiece for a who’s who of guest stars (see: Parker Posey, John Turturro and Michaela Coel, to name a few), the drama that Glover and co-creator/showrunner Francesca Sloane crafted bears no resemblance to its predecessor. That, it turns out, was their plan all along — and something they’ll only be doubling down on now that the show has earned 16 Emmy nominations and a second season.
If you had to distill what you were trying to say with the first season in one scene, which would it be? It doesn’t have to be your favorite.
The truth serum scene [between Donald Glover and Maya Erskine]. The entire season, they’re so withholding — they’re trying so hard to play the cat-and-mouse thing because that’s what makes a good spy. And two people, regardless of being spies, can be withholding and scared to really show who they are at the beginning of a relationship. And truth serum is an actual thing! They even use it in the military. It’s sort of magical.
When you and Donald sat down to write this, did you think of it as a drama or a comedy?
Finding the tone was something of an experiment. We’d talk about turning up the comedy knob a little bit when they get in these arguments, but, ultimately, this is still a character study about relationships. Donald is such a musical person, and what we really learned is to think of a season as an album. The best moments for us were when episodes felt like they could live on their own as a single. Our North Star is making hits for every episode.
The first season was your first time showrunning. What surprised you about the experience?
I realized it was going to be expensive, but what surprised me is how expensive locations are — especially in New York. Like, let’s just shoot at the Whitney. And then everyone is like, “Yeah, we can. Here’s the price tag on that.” That blew my mind.
I’d imagine the Whitney also comes with a lot of rules.
Absolutely. There’s interesting parameters outside of cost. For instance, after the Whitney, we wanted to shoot this incredible chase sequence through the Highline. Because it is such a public setting and a tourist attraction, we couldn’t have any gunfire. That was a disclaimer. That’s why we have so much hand-to-hand combat versus them actually shooting guns during that sequence. Rewriting certain things to obey these restrictions became fun. Having guardrails can create some of the best art. That’s why I think the Hays Code-era films are some of the best because they’re trying to still make magic with these restrictions. So I kind of like that sometimes.
The first season ends with a cliffhanger, and you’ve mentioned that you knew the direction you wanted to go next. Is that the direction that you’re going in now?
That idea is where we’re going, but there are definitely surprises showing up for us. I have been skipping to work. We laugh all day. We are having so much fun coming up with where these characters are going. I hope that it’s contagious and I hope it translates because I haven’t had this much fun making anything maybe ever.
Who’s in the writers room this year?
Obviously, Donald and I are back — as is Steven Glover and Yvonne Hana Yi, who wrote a lot of the episodes with me last season. It’s a lot of our friends from the Atlanta room, Taofik Kolade and Swank [Jamal Olori], and then some incredible new writers. Everybody has very different points of view, but they all have a demented sense of humor.
The cameos were such a huge part of the first season, something that’s reflected in your five guest actor and actress nominations. Has your phone been ringing about people trying to get in on season two?
Yes, and it’s been so awesome. There’s definitely some really cool people who’ve been hitting us up. What I’m loving seeing is some of these legendary character actors who have been in the business for a billion years. These are some icons, real heavy-hitters, and I think they recognize that there are parts for them in this show. There’s been a lot of “Pinch me! Are you serious?” outreach.
This story first appeared in an August stand-alone issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe.