‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith:’ Showrunner, Writer Francesca Sloane Exploring Careers, Marriage with Co-Creator, Star Donald Glover

The film version of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, directed by Doug Liman, debuted in 2005 amidst mixed reviews. However, thanks to a whirlwind of publicity surrounding the white-hot chemistry between stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, it became a box office smash. A sequel never materialized despite interest from Pitt and Jolie. In 2007, ABC commissioned a pilot for a television series, but that never saw the light of day either.

Finally, in early 2021, Atlanta writers Francesca Sloane and Donald Glover announced their very different take on the property. Rather than married assassins who are unaware of each other’s true occupation, Sloane and Glover’s secret agents would apply for their jobs and be placed together as a married couple. Glover would star along with Pen15’s Maya Erskine. Critics and audiences applauded this new, fresh take, and the series has been cleared for a second season.

Talking to Sloane, it becomes very apparent that the espionage world wasn’t actually what fully intrigued her about the series.

It was the unique take on marriage and an exploration of a unique partnership.

“When Donald brought this to me in the first place, we started talking about why we would want to do it. What would justify the TV real estate in terms of giving it hours and hours and hours for multiple episodes. The thing that really spoke to us was the marriage component,” Sloane explained. “What a great metaphor for a marriage: the masks you wear versus the truth that you tell. What does vulnerability look like? What is it when two people genuinely have to be close? When you get married, it’s till death do us part, but what happens when the stakes of your life are high every single day. That felt like a world for us to sort of investigate.”

Glover and Erskine offer pitch-perfect chemistry as strangers who find lust and eventually love in this bizarre partnership. The series flips the spy thriller genre on its head by mostly portraying the action and relationships through a female gaze. While Glover and his brother Stephen provided some of the male perspective, the remainder of the writing team comprised a collection of what Sloane calls “very different, very diverse, very opinionated, hilarious women” that shifted the tone of the show away from a traditional James Bond narrative into one that explores these events through the eyes of Erskine’s Jane Smith.

In fact, Glover’s John takes on more of the more emotional, traditionally female-trending characteristics. Erskine’s Jane emerges as the colder, ruthless, traditionally male-trending persona. But they’re still pulled together into an artificial marriage that eventually beings to fray under the stress of their unusual job and of their thrown-together relationship.

The investigation of this marriage isn’t one without its feet in the writers’ personal lives.

“Some of the interaction between John and Jane — the way that they push each other’s buttons and joke and prank with each other — are sort of reflective of Donald and my friendship. It reflects the way that we work with each other and how we speak with one another,” Sloane shared. “Donald and I, for instance, are both in interracial relationships with our spouses. A lot of those components very naturally and organically ended up being part of John and Jane just because that happens to be part of our lives, too.”

To help explore their crumbling relationship further, Glover and Sloane created roles throughout the series that would be filled by top-notch guest stars including Alexander Skarsgård, Parker Posey, Wagner Moura, John Turturro, and the great Sarah Paulson among many others. Paulson’s role as a therapist, in particular, provided key moments for Sloane and Glover to explore the Smith’s deteriorating relationship in a truly real-life setting.

Paulson’s therapy episode — Episode Six “Couples Therapy (Naked & Afraid)” — became a fast fan-favorite thanks to the fantastic performances captured and to the insightful and often very funny script by Sloane.

“That episode was originally very different. At one point, it was about them mostly in the woods and very much about them falling apart. We started realizing that the show needed some more levity,” Sloane recalled. “You needed some laughter. You needed that software joke. You needed Sarah Paulson to look at them and be the straight man trying to figure out what the hell these two are talking about because everything is coded. That was definitely a tricky one for sure.”

Difficult work that definitely payed off, perhaps in ways that Sloane wasn’t anticipating. After becoming one of Amazon Prime’s top five new series debuts ever, the streamer picked up the series for a second season. Sloane will return as showrunner and is excited about their central idea for a sophomore effort.

After working as a writer on multiple television series, the very positive reaction to Mr. and Mrs. Smith still surprises her.

“I’ve written a lot of television, but this is my first baby myself. You get so close to it and give your all to it, but you never necessarily know how the world might receive it. So, it’s been really wonderful. I’m very grateful that some people not only are watching it, but seem to really get it. It’s pretty great.”

Mr. and Mrs. Smith streams exclusively on Amazon Prime.