Donald Glover signs hefty multi-year deal with Amazon

Well, that explains that sudden Mr. & Mrs. Smith announcement: THR reports that Donald Glover has just signed a hefty, multi-year first-look deal with Amazon, which, among other things, will end a similarly long relationship the actor, writer, director, and producer had with FX. (Don’t worry, Atlanta is still supposedly on track for its third and fourth eventual seasons, and Glover apparently has a “carve out” clause that could allow him to continue to work on the show regardless of his Amazon commitments.) The contract is reportedly somewhere in the 8-figure range, which, while not Ryan-Murphy-works-for-Netflix-now money (Murphy’s deal was reportedly in the plus-$300,000,000 area), is still a pretty sizable chunk of change.

Oh, also: Malia Obama is involved?

This bit’s really only kind of a side thing, but the former First Kid has, apparently, signed on to the nascent writers’ room for a Glover-produced show called Hive—from writer Janine Nabers—about a “Beyoncé-like figure,” i.e., that most classic of literary archetypes. (Amazon hasn’t commented on any of this stuff to confirm either the series, or Obama’s involvement, but it’s not like the family hasn’t been fairly aggressive about getting into the content-creation game in the years since Pops left office.)

So far, Mr. & Mrs. Smith (co-starring and developed by Glover’s old Solo pal Phoebe Waller-Bridge) and Hive are the only shows that have been mentioned in relation to this new deal, but presumably the always prolific Glover has some more ideas kicking around. (R.I.P. Donald Glover’s very weird Deadpool cartoon, by the way.) THR also notes that Glover’s brother, Stephen Glover—head story editor on Atlanta, and his long-time collaborator—has also signed an Amazon deal of his own.