WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
The new Amazon action comedy series Mr. & Mrs. Smith features more Jane and John Smith secret agent characters than meets the eye. Starring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine, Mr. & Mrs. Smith is the first television adaptation of the classic 2005 movie starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. The series feels much more like a remixed version of the original than a remake, taking inspiration from the basic premise of the 2005 film while enhancing certain qualities that offer a more grounded and lifelike version of the concept. Jane & John Smith are two spies who agree to an arranged marriage.
As the series plays out, the main John and Jane Smith discover that there are other couples out there who are just like them, belonging to the same secret agency referred to as “Hihi” in the series. Johns and Janes trade their lives as they know them to become operatives of the mysterious company, which has expectations of high-risk performances with very little room for error. The John and Jane characters are paired together based on compatibility as assessed by the “Hihi” entity, which appears to be some type of AI-generated engine created by an advanced algorithm.
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3 Donald Glover & Maya Erskine
The main protagonists of Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Donald Glover and Maya Erskine are the primary protagonists in Mr. & Mrs. Smith whose relationship, and partnership on missions, are chronicled throughout. Glover’s John has a military background but was discharged from the Marines due to a combination of his asthma and anxiety. Erskine’s Jane was a candidate for the CIA before she failed her psychiatric evaluation which indicated that she showed signs of antisocial and sociopathic tendencies. Both Jane and John, whose actual names are revealed to be Ilana and Michael by the end of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, join the Hihi program in search of a better life.
Despite Mr. & Mrs. Smith’s outstanding cast, there are only three couples who are revealed to be participants of the Jane and John program in the series. Donald Glover’s John and Maya Erskine’s Jane ostensibly don’t seem very compatible at all and even reveal later in the series that they didn’t think they’d find a connection early on. Glover’s John has high expectations for some of the traditional aspects of marriage, including kids, while Erskine’s Jane is more concerned with binge-watching Naked & Afraid with her cat than actually starting a family. As it turns out, they discover that they are compatible because they are essentially opposites.
2 Wagner Moura & Parker Posey
Super high-risk power couple
Wagner Moura and Parker Posey are revealed to be another John and Jane couple who have been working for the Hihi company for over 15 years. As incredibly experienced agents who operate exclusively at the super high-risk level, they reap the lucrative benefits of their extremely dangerous professions, which turns out to be eliminating other John and Jane Smiths. Wagner’s John is likable and charming on the surface, while Posey’s Jane also seems fun and sophisticated, making them an ostensibly natural pair. As Glover’s John and Erskine’s Jane find out, Moura and Posey’s characters are anything but friendly.
There are suggestions throughout Mr. & Mrs. Smith that point at other possible John and Jane agents, such as Paul Dano and Michaela Coel’s characters. Dano, who was suspected to be a villain or even Hihi in the series, turned out to only be a friendly and nosy neighbor who takes an interest in Glover and Eskrine’s characters because he loves their beautiful home. Coel is revealed to be a secret agent herself but apparently works alone for a separate rival company, as she does not have a John counterpart in the series. Moura and Posey represent the highest level of the company whose job is only to kill other agents.
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1 Alexander Skarsgård & Eiza Gonzalez
Compromised at the beginning of the series
In what is the biggest tease of all in the Mr. & Mrs. Smith Amazon series, Alexander Skarsgård and Eiza Gonzalez are revealed to be in a John and Jane partnership even though they only appear in one scene. The series opens with Skarsgård’s John and Gonzalez’s Jane enjoying their view in the remote countryside only to wind up both dead at the hands of armed enemies. While it would have been exciting to see more of Skarsgård’s John and Gonzalez’s Jane in the Mr. & Mrs. Smith Amazon series, their early deaths set the necessary foundation of just how dangerous their line of work is before the audience is introduced to Glover and Erskine’s characters.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a TV adaptation of the 2005 film starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. Donald Glover and Maya Erskine take on the lead roles for the series as spies who are placed in an arranged marriage for an undercover mission only to develop real feelings for each another.
- Release Date
- February 2, 2024
- Cast
- Donald Glover , Maya Erskine , Paul Dano , John Turturro , Michaela Coel
- Seasons
- 1
- Creator(s)
- Donald Glover , Francesca Sloane
- Writers
- Francesca Sloane , Donald Glover , Yvonne Hana Yi
- Streaming Service(s)
- Prime Video
- Directors
- Christian Sprenger
