The Americans TV series review - cast, seasons and more

Overview

The Americans is a TV series which revolves around the lives of two Soviet KGB officers. The Jennings pose as a married couple living in the US. They live in Falls Church, which is a Virginia suburb of Washington DC, with their two children Henry and Paige.

This show was created by Joe Weisberg and aired on the FX network, falling under the category of period spy thriller. It is set during the Cold War.

It first came out on US screens in 2013 and ended in 2018, lasting six seasons and five years in total. The final season landed the show a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. The Americans also won Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, not to mention a Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Drama.

Premise

The pilot episode sees the main duo of Philip and Elizabeth Jennings introduced in their role as an undercover team of Russian intelligence agents who are based in the US. Nobody knows their real identities; what makes this even more chilling is that even their own children are completely unaware.

Missions and storylines which fans can explore over the course of this series include the Jennings infiltrating and bugging the office of US Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, infiltrating the FBI’s new communications encryption system and a mission to discredit a Polish pro-democracy leader.

Cast and characters

KGB officer Elizabeth Jennings – Keri Russell
KGB officer Philip Jennings – Matthew Rhys
Stan’s FBI partner Chris Amador – Maximiliano Hernandez
Daughter Paige Jennings – Holly Taylor
Son Henry Jennings – Keidrich Sellati
FBI counterintelligence agent Stan Beeman – Noah Emmerich
KGB agent Nina Sergeevna Krilova – Annet Mahendru
Stan’s wife Sandra Beeman – Susan Misner
Agent Gaad’s secretary Martha Hanson – Alison Wright
KGB’s Rezident at the Soviet embassy Arkady Ivanovich Zotov – Lev Gorn
Soviet embassy’s Science and Technology officer Oleg Igorevich Burov – Costa Ronin
FBI Special Agent Frank Gaad – Richard Thomas
Russian agent and biochemical warfare scientist William Crandall – Dylan Baker
FBI agent Dennis Aderholt – Brandon J Dirden
KGB handler Claudia – Margo Martindale
Stan and Sandra’s son Matthew Beeman – Daniel Flaherty
Former KGB Rezident Vasili Nikolaevich – Peter Von Berg
Elizabeth’s longtime lover Gregory Thomas – Derek Luke
KGB handler Kate – Wrenn Schmidt
United States Navy SEAL Andrew Larrick – Lee Tergesen
Russian-Jewish scientist Anton Baklanov – Michael Aronov
Pastor Tim – Kelly AuCoin
KGB handler Gabriel – Frank Langella
Operational team member Hans – Peter Mark Kendall
Kimberly ‘Kimmy’ Breland – Julia Garner
Northrop employee Lisa – Karen Pittman
Stan’s girlfriend Renee – Laurie Holden
State Department negotiating team member Green Haskard – Scott Cohen
Ailing wife Erica Haskard – Miriam Shor

Filming locations

The Americans was primarily filmed in New York City. Furthermore, a couple of scenes were filmed at Eastern Effects Studios in Gowanus, Brooklyn. When it comes to outside shots, these were generally taken in various Brooklyn street locations, such as Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens.

There were also outside scenes filmed in Staten Island, Kew Gardens, Morningside Heights, Farmingdale, Coney Island Avenue, Mamaroneck, Washington Heights, Prospect Park and Astoria.

Trailer

The trailer for The Americans on YouTube has been received well, with over 1.9 million views. It opens with a woman saying ‘Stop’ to a man kissing her from behind, then suddenly turning around with a knife. The man says ‘You’re my wife,’ to which she replies ‘Is that right?’

A male voice is then heard saying ‘Super secret spies live next door. They speak better English than we do. They’re not allowed to say a single word in Russian once they get here.’ The family is seen with moving boxes in a house, and then the scene jumps to a man tied up and gagged with a man saying ‘If you make any noise, I will kill you.’

Production

The concept of this series was given a skeleton outline by its creator Joe Weisberg, who happens to be a former CIA officer. After leaving the CIA, Weisberg published a novel which is titled An Ordinary Spy. This story focuses on a spy who is completing his training in Virginia before he gets transferred overseas. Executive producer Graham Yost was so taken by the book that he was excited to discover Weisberg had also written a pilot for a TV series.

After reading the pilot, Yost described it as ‘annoyingly good’ and the show therefore began its development. Weisberg took on his research, which included examining the notes from the KGB’s Cold War left by Vasili Mitrokhin.