Four-time Emmy winner John Mulaney is in early talks to star as wisenheimer Agent Maxwell Smart in an upcoming movie reimagining of Get Smart for Warner Bros. The project is currently in very early stages of development.
John Mulaney in Talks to Star in Warner Bros. Get Smart Reboot
The studio has tapped Seth Grahame-Smith, who wrote 2025’s Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, to pen the screenplay. Chuck Roven and Andrew Lazar are attached as producers.
Franchise History and the 2008 Adaptation
The original Get Smart spy comedy television series was created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, debuting in 1965 and running for 138 episodes until 1970. The first four seasons aired on NBC, while the final season was broadcast on CBS. Don Adams starred as the brainy, confident, but hopelessly incompetent Agent Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) opposite Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 and Edward Platt as the Chief. The characters worked for Control, a secret U.S. government counterintelligence agency engaged in a constant battle with the evil organization Kaos. During its original run, the series won seven Emmy awards, including three acting wins for Adams and three trophies for Outstanding Comedy Series.
The franchise previously inspired several revivals and adaptations:
- The Nude Bomb (1980 feature film made without Brooks and Henry)
- Get Smart, Again! (1989 made-for-TV sequel reuniting Adams and Feldon)
- A 1995 Fox revival series that ran for seven episodes
- A 2008 feature film adaptation from Warner Bros. produced by Roven and Lazar
The 2008 feature film was directed by Peter Segal and starred Steve Carell as Smart, Anne Hathaway as Agent 99, Alan Arkin as the Chief, and Dwayne Johnson as Agent 23. Programmed as a summer tentpole against an $80 million budget, the 2008 film opened to $38.6 million domestically, finished with $130.3 million domestically, and grossed $230.6 million worldwide.
Mulaney’s Background and Upcoming Projects
Mulaney is a comedian, actor, and writer who has won four Emmy Awards, including wins for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special in 2025 for SNL: 50th Anniversary, in 2023 for John Mulaney: Baby J, and in 2018 for John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City Hall, as well as an Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics win in 2011 for SNL. He is also a Critics Choice- and WGA Award-winning writer who has hosted Saturday Night Live six times.
Earlier this year, Mulaney became the first comedian ever to headline and sell out Wrigley Field. His recent work includes hosting Netflix’s 12-episode anti-talk show Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney in 2025, and he recently announced a special nine-show New York City run titled Mulaney Takes Manhattan running from January 7-15 across venues ranging from the Comedy Cellar and Blue Note to Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, and Madison Square Garden as part of his stand-up tour, John Mulaney: Mister Whatever.
On the film side, Mulaney will next appear in Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming David O. Russell feature Madden, starring Nicolas Cage as the football coach and broadcaster, where Mulaney plays Trip Hawkins, the founder of video game giant Electronic Arts.
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