Scenes from a (spy) marriage: Maya Erskine declassifies “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”, talks season 2 wishes

Mr. and Mrs. Smith has a new identity.

Donald Glover and Francesca Sloane reimagined Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's titular spy couple from the 2005 movie into a charming, relatable, and surprisingly funny series starring Glover and Maya Erskine (Pen15), which earned Golden Globes acting nominations for both Glover and Erskine as well as Best Series — Drama.

This John and Jane Smith are two lonely strangers who sign up for a mysterious spy agency and get paired together, posing as a married couple. Throughout eight episodes filled with increasingly higher stakes and globe-trotting missions, their cover becomes their reality as they develop true feelings for each other — fighting distrust, other spies, and even each other along the way.

Below, Erskine analyzes her new alias.

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Related: Donald Glover and Maya Erskine break down their new, more relatable 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith'

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Hihi!

MAYA ERSKINE: [Laughs] Hihi!

Ever since the first season debuted, I no longer just say "hi" — it's always "Hihi."

I'm so sorry!

Do you, Donald, and Francesca all greet each other with "Hihi?"

In the beginning, it definitely came out a lot. When we were first introduced to the emails of "Hihi," it was so hard to get that out of our heads. And then so many other things happened on set that then those took over. By now it's gone away, so it will go away.

What was your first impression of this remake?

How Donald was describing it after a couple phone calls with him to get to know each other. One of the biggest references he made was Children of Men, and that scene in the beginning when there's the big explosion and the aftermath of that. He also referenced Scenes From a Marriage, and that it's going to be a story about these two people falling in love but the spy aspect of it isn't going to be big and hokey. That was very attractive to me.

What was it like going from playing a 13-year-old version of yourself on Pen15 to an adult spy? That’s quite a vibe shift.

[Laughs] The first day of driving a car at night doing stunts, it was wildly different. It was actually a really welcomed change for me because I was ready to jump into a woman's body. But it's funny, after playing Jane, now I actually miss [the 13-year-old version of] Maya too. It was really hard for me because I had just had a baby, I was in this new shift of motherhood and changing my own identity, and then to play this character who is so strong and not really afraid of what anyone thinks, that was a challenge for me to get there. But it was really great for me.

Related: Maya Erskine stole a Tom Cruise trick for her Mr. & Mrs. Smith action scenes: 'We did run like hell'

Not only is this a reimagining of a beloved movie, but you were also taking on a role originated by Angelina Jolie. How did you deal with all that pressure?

It's almost so much that it has to feel like a separate project, because if it's something that I'm trying to fill the shoes, I can't. Angelina Jolie did it beautifully, and that's that. It's not a comparison. That is part of what helped me approach it, thinking of it as a completely different story and a completely different character, even if it had the same name and it had the same IP. Otherwise, I think I would've clouded my brain with too much pressure.

Fleabag’s Phoebe Waller-Bridge was originally attached to star in this role. How did you make Jane your own when you took over?

I felt like I could infuse parts of myself. Fran had said, “Send over any thoughts you have about your character or any anecdotes from your life,” so I sent a large document of embarrassing stories from my relationships and little kernels found [their] way in.

Like what?

An anecdote about when my dad and my mom first started dating, and they had an argument early on. She said “f--- you” to him, and he was like, “No, we're not going to say that to each other. We don't speak like that.” And they've never spoken like that to each other since then. In the argument scene in the campsite in episode 6, John says “f--- you” to Jane, and she says, “We don't do that.” So yeah, there's a lot from all of our relationships sprinkled throughout. That’s why it feels so relatable.

Related: Donald Glover says he and Maya Erskine 'became like a married couple' filming Mr. & Mrs. Smith

What kind of physical prep did you for all the action scenes?

A lot. That was sort of my main prep. I was so out of shape and I'm not a gym person, and I definitely needed to get strong, so that was a long several months of strength training, which I had never done before. And then after that, we worked with the stunt coordinators and choreography, and that truly was one of my favorite parts of filming this show. There was one [scene] that I knew was going to be a oner so if we sucked, they couldn't cut to my stunt double. Focusing on that challenge was really exciting. It was even more shock at seeing my small little body in these grand sweeping shots of us in the Italian Alps. I was like, "This looks like a Bond movie. And it is shocking that I'm standing in that."

What moment was most important for you as you portrayed Jane's evolution throughout the season?

I always credit the work of evolution in a character to the writing because if it's in the words, then it's a gift for the actors to be able to portray that. It wasn't this big staggering change in one episode — it was: The more comfortable Jane got, the more she was falling in love, the higher the stakes were, you see more of her come out. At the end, you see how much she needs John, and that's a very scary place for her to come to when at the beginning, she doesn't need anyone but her cat. I loved the truth serum [in the last episode] because I was holding in so much of that knowledge from day one, and getting to express all of that felt like such a cathartic release. That was my favorite part.

What was the most difficult scene to film?

The camping fight scene in the therapy episode because it was raining, it was a night shoot, so we were waiting in our trailer together for the rain to stop so that we could then shoot, and it was in the woods. And we were struggling with the scene — we kept rewriting it all together on that night and trying to find an argument that felt like it had a lot of places to go that felt real. It felt like, "I don't know if this is going to work," and then it ended up feeling really fulfilling once we got to the end of shooting it.

Related: Donald Glover reveals he got COVID while filming pivotal Mr. & Mrs. Smith scene

What did you think of how the first season ended on the cliffhanger leaving both John and Jane's fates in the air? We still don't know if you and Donald are returning for season 2.

I loved it. To me, that was the perfect ending for this season. It felt like a very romantic end to this story in this season. It had a feel of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. It felt almost operatic in the panic room at the end, and her having to tell him that his gunshot wound is okay, all of that.

What would you like to see the show explore in season 2?

What's exciting to me is seeing how the relationships evolve. So even if it's not this John and Jane — if it's another John and Jane, if it is our John and Jane — how it evolves, the idea of a relationship, all the things that happen in a relationship, how they deal with the topic of kids or domesticating, all against the spy backdrop, all of that. If they can keep finding more of those, I think that's where the gold is in this show — the nuances that are in a relationship and seeing how that juxtaposes with the spy world.

When the show was renewed for season 2, some reports claimed that you and Donald weren't returning. But Francesca shut down those "reports" in an interview with EW. What did you think of all of that speculation at the time?

I totally understand why there's speculation. It was funny when the article came out proclaiming that we're not in it because there was no announcement made. But Fran said it best. She talked about how it's sort of like Christmas: Don't open the presents until it's Christmas day. You don't need to peek inside. I'm trying to follow along in their footsteps because I have a big mouth, and if I could, I would just say everything right now, but I can't. I don't want to ruin it.

Too bad you're not on truth serum right now.

Exactly. Because, I mean, I'm like this close. If you ask me ... No, don't. I can't share.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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