Donald Glover is coming for multiple Emmy nominations once again with ‘Mr. and Mrs. Smith’
Donald Glover is one of several muli-hyphenate creatives who have become Emmy favorites. Glover has earned 11 nominations so far across multiple projects (more on that later) and he is looking to add to that record with his latest show, Amazon Prime Video’s “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.”
Inspired by the 2005 Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie movie, this spy series follows Glover and “Pen15” star/creator Maya Erskine as two secret agents who go undercover as a married couple to complete missions for a mysterious organization. Glover is once again on multiple duties — he and Francesca Sloane, whom he worked with on his comedy show “Atlanta,” write and create this show while Glover stars in it and also directs the season finale. Glover puts his easy on-screen presence and chemistry to good use again in this show and makes a terrific duo with Erskine, as noted by critics.
Kristen Baldwin (Entertainment Weekly) stated: “Glover, always a confident and compelling presence on screen, puts his straight-man charisma to excellent use as John. Part frustrated caretaker (‘Just be a person and drink fluids,’ he urges his sick wife), part soft-hearted romantic, John struggles to reconcile his chosen profession with his yearning for a normcore home life.”
Aaron Pruner (The Wrap) observed: “Glover will get heaps of praise for his work here as co-creator, writer, producer and star. His evolution as an artist is remarkable, as it feels like he’s conquered everything from comedy to hip-hop. Now, he’s a leading man who’s running head-first into gunfights one minute and sweetly spooning with his wife the next. Braggadocious and dorky, Glover’s John has the swagger of Steve McQueen and the sensitive loyalty of a mother’s only son.”
Linda Holmes (NPR) explained: “Both stars slip smoothly into this mode, the action-romcom, even though it’s different from their best-known work. Glover has played true goofballs (‘Community’), and on ‘Atlanta,’ his central character of Earn was uncertain and often ambivalent. John’s slick layer of confidence, even though it covers insecurities and unrealized dreams, calls on different skills, as does the frequency with which you see him get in fights.”
As a result, we are predicting that Glover will be nominated for Best Drama Actor alongside Gary Oldman (“Slow Horses”), Dominic West (“The Crown”), Hiroyuki Sanada (“Shōgun”), Colin Farrell (“Sugar”), and Cosmo Jarvis (“Shōgun”). Glover is an easy nomination here and there are plenty of reasons as to why.
Firstly, Glover already has an extensive Emmys record. As previously mentioned, he has nine nominations to his name. He was nominated for Best Comedy Writing, Best Comedy Directing, Best Comedy Actor, and Best Comedy Series for “Atlanta” in 2017, winning for directing and acting. He repeated this quarter of nominations in 2018 for the same show. That same year, he also secured a Best Comedy Guest Actor citation for “Saturday Night Live.” He was also nominated for Best Comedy Actor in 2022 for “Atlanta” and Best TV Movie/Limited Series Writing in 2023 for “Swarm.” This is an actor very much liked by Emmy voters.
Four of those 11 bids came for acting, proving that Emmy voters like Glover as an actor specifically. Multi-hyphenates often get nominated for their acting work, too, including the likes of Phoebe Waller-Bridge (“Fleabag”), Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary”), Bill Hader (“Barry”), and Jason Sudeikis (“Ted Lasso”). On the drama side of things, Jason Bateman was nominated for “Ozark” — he didn’t create that show but he did direct it and produce, proving that multi-hyphenate actors do earn acting bids for their work in drama shows, too. Glover could follow that.
Glover is also looking for nominations for writing, directing, and producing as well as an acting bid. He has already proven that he can snag bids in all of these categories. He was nominated in this quartet of categories twice — in 2017 and 2018 for “Atlanta.” He also wouldn’t be the first person to garner at least two nominations in these four categories for their show. The aforementioned Bateman was nominated for producing, directing, and starring in “Ozark” while Bob Odenkirk secured bids for producing and acting in “Better Call Saul.” Kevin Spacey (“House of Cards”), Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”), and Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”) all also received citations for acting in and producing their respective shows.
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