Donald Glover is back on TV, but this time he's not in Atlanta. Instead, he teams up with Maya Erskine to play a pair of spies who stage a wedding Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The first trailer for the Prime Video reboot arrived on Thursday, giving us our first look at the show, and the very different tone it takes from the film it was inspired by.
Unlike the original film, Glover and Erskine play strangers who sign up as spies and are assigned a marriage as a cover story. Instead of trying to kill each other, the two will solve a new case every week that will test both their spy skills and the limits of their new and growing relationship.
With a premise like that, you'd probably expect the series to bring in a laundry list of guest stars. And you would be absolutely right. The trailer gives us a glimpse of a few of them, and a list of even more, including Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Paul Dano (There will be blood), John Turturro (The Great Lebowski), Parker Posey (Scream 3), Michael Coel (I can destroy you), Eiza González (Ambulance), Sarah Paulson (Ocean 8), and Alexander Skarsgård (The Northman).
Mr. and Mrs. Smith is a timeless idea, a beautiful couple who also happen to be super spies/assassins. But just because it's a great idea doesn't mean it's easy to achieve. The original version, starring Brad Pitt and Aneglina Jolie, was released in 2005, perhaps at the height of star power for both. But the movie wasn't great. It has some fun moments, and as a historical document of mid-2000s fame it's undeniably fascinating, but it's not nearly as fun, cool, or even sexy as you'd hope.
Perhaps the most confusing thing about the reboot's trailer is that it's not quite either of those things, but maybe it's not trying to be. The first film was a showcase for the hottest people in the world at the time, but Glover's new show feels a little more like it wants to be a spy show about the coolest couple at your local dinner party. And that could be a fun, albeit very different, take on the concept.
Mr and Mrs Smith will be released on Prime Video on February 2.