Before it could take off and become successful, the sequel to Doug Liman’s 2005 flick went down in flames.

You can finally put your mind at ease knowing why a sequel to this classic romantic comedy, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, starring two renowned actors, who later became a real-life couple, was never made.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt appeared as Jane and John, two highly skilled assassins posing as an average suburban couple, in Doug Liman’s 2005 flick. The dramatic real-life romance between its two stars made this 20th-century Fox film famous—or infamous, perhaps (for the offscreen romance headlines). The Smiths were thrown into an unexpected adventure when they found out that they were both spies and had been given orders to kill each other because they worked for different agencies.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in Mr. & Mrs. Smith
In 2010, Jolie disclosed that attempts had been made by “people” to reunite her and the actor (whom she would later marry in 2014) for a sequel to the 2005 movie. Not only was Liman’s film the seventh highest-grossing film in 2005, but it is also best known for sparking Jolie and Pitt’s romance. But trying to recreate the magic of that movie more than ten years later seems needless, if not foolish.

Angelina Jolie’s Unfiltered Thoughts on Mr. & Mrs. Smith’s Continuation
Has the era of the greatest remake arrived? Donald Glover and Maya Erskine recently starred in the TV series adaptation of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the film that first brought Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt together. Furthermore, talks of a second season have already begun. What’s the status of the original flick’s sequel, though?

During a 2010 Vanity Fair interview, when asked if there would be a second Mr. & Mrs. Smith film, Jolie backed down, suggesting it is highly unlikely:

“People have tried.”

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie in Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Nevertheless, she claimed that it was now more difficult to come up with a plot for the follow-up movie because her on-screen romance with Pitt had become real:

“And it’s strange: do we have kids in the movie? We’ve thought about that, but it becomes personal now that we actually have kids. And if we work on it, we pull from our own life, which is funny to us, but you feel strange sharing too much.”

She continued by saying that every attempt to create a sequel invariably resulted in a weak character plot:

“We did ask somebody to look into ‘Mr & Mrs’ to see if they could crack a sequel, but there wasn’t anything original. It was just, Well, they’re going to get married, or they’ve got kids, or they get separated. Never great.”

Even though Mr. & Mrs. Smith made $487 million worldwide (see Box Office Mojo), it was an unquestionable box-office success, but a sequel remains a mystery.

Setting aside their divorce, which undoubtedly makes it more difficult for the two to ever appear together on screen, Doug Liman, Jolie, and Pitt have all had busy years since the premiere of Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

The Ultimate Test for Mr. & Mrs. Smith: What Lies Ahead?

Amazon Prime Video’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2024)
Even though Mr. & Mrs. Smith was never deemed worthy of a follow-up, a franchise is about to begin. Based on the content, a streaming series has been released by Prime Video, which hosted its debut on February 2, 2024. According to the plot, the eight episodes of the show feature different locales and the Smiths take on separate missions, with a focus on the marital relationship between the two characters.

Donald Glover and Maya Erskine reprised their roles as the titular assassin couple in the Mr. & Mrs. Smith reboot. Because the new project will tell the movie’s story over a whole season, it will already be putting screenwriter Simon Kinberg’s assessment to the test. Should it receive a second season renewal, it will go far beyond the first and explore the possibility of carrying on the beloved action-hero couple’s romance.

JoBlo was lucky enough to recently speak with Kinberg in an interview. He explained why there was never a Mr. & Mrs. Smith sequel during their talk, saying that the follow-up “would not actually have the arc of two people who are falling in love”, since the first film was about the couple rekindling their romance.

It is possible that television will continue to be a good place to tell the Mr. & Mrs. Smith story. As of the time of writing, Rotten Tomatoes posted an approval rating of 90% with an audience score of 66%.