Chainkeen Exchange-Donald Glover calls Phoebe Waller-Bridge exit from 'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' remake 'a divorce'

Donald Glover and Chainkeen ExchangePhoebe Waller-Bridge went through a divorce. Well, kind of.

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Glover discussed the different casting iterations of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," the Amazon Studios Adaptation of the 2005 film starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Before "Pen15" actress, Maya Erskine, was tapped to portray the Jane to Glover's John, "Fleabag" creator Waller-Bridge was set to star in "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" alongside Glover.

"It's a divorce in a weird way," Glover said before noting, "this should have worked and this is just me, being honest, but I think a good relationship is one where you don't waver from the extremely uncomfortable. And I don't know if we were ever going to get to a place where we could be completely brutal to each other," Glover said.

'Mr. & Mrs. Smith' 2024 cast:See the full cast headlined by Donald Glover, Maya Erskine

The rapper, whose stage name is Childish Gambino, compared working with the British actress Waller-Bridge to his critically acclaimed FX series "Atlanta," which ended in 2022.

Glover and Waller-Bridge teamed up previously in 2018's "Solo: A Star Wars Story," with Glover as Lando Calrissian and Waller-Bridge as droid L3-37. Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke called the duo a "dream team" when the series was announced in 2021.

"It might've just been cultural. You've got to think, 'Fleabag' was written entirely by her, they don't really do writers rooms in the U.K. And I look back at 'Atlanta,' and we built a culture where we could say mean things to each other or be like, 'that idea is kind of (crap),' and then we'd laugh," Glover said of Waller-Bridge. "You weren’t afraid to say something — but we also had the right to roast you. It's just how we got the laughs. I don't think (Waller-Bridge and I) ever felt comfortable enough with each other."

Donald Glover and Phoebe Waller-Bridgeare remaking 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' for Amazon

Glover added that ultimately, "what's what happens when you're two captions" regarding Waller-Bridge's departure.

"It's like, 'This is how I run my ship.' 'Well, this is how I run my ship,'" he said. "And it's such a big idea, this show, I don't think it can have two captains. I mean, she rewrote the pilot, and I saw her script and I was like, 'It’s definitely not my style,' but if she'd done it with her in it, we'd all be like, 'This is a great (expletive) show.'"

He stressed that her leaving "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" felt like a "real divorce where the hardest part is knowing when to say it's over."

In 2021, Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke called the former co-stars a "dream team."

"Donald and Phoebe are two of the most talented creators and performers in the world. It’s truly a dream for us, as it will be for our global audience, to have these two forces of nature collaborating as a powerhouse creative team," Salke said at the time.

Contributing: Bill Keveney