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Entertainment March 3, 2017
All the recent talk of Russia’s involvement in U.S. politics makes it the ideal time for the return to TV of “The Americans,” which stars Keri Russell as an undercover Russian spy posing as an everyday American housewife.
The FX show, in which Russell dispatches enemies with poison and punches, is back for a fifth series on Tuesday March 7 and the current daily news coverage has made this Cold War era set series more relevant than ever.
It also has fans in high places. While embattled Attorney General Jeff Sesions probably wouldn’t admit to watching it, Barack Obama is known to be a big fan of the series.
“It happens to be incredibly relevant right now and it’s such an interesting job,” said Kerri, who admits she was a surprise choice for the role considering her previous TV work.
“Who would have thought that they would cast as a icy cold Rusian spy the curly haired girl from ‘Felicity?’ But the point is to look trustworthy and be a PTA mom who isn’t really a PTA mom,” she told the Gold Derby website.
The show has earned her ultimate respect as a dramatic actress in the form of recent nominations at the Golden Globe Awards and Emmys while the series itself was last month named TV’s best drama at the Writers Guild Awards.
“The Americans” has been life changing for Keri, 40, in another way too. She fell in love with co-star Matthew Rhys, 42, with whom she now has a 10-month-old son, Sam.
As the fifth season begins, the undercover couple they play, Phillip and Elizabeth Jennings, face the consequences of their 16-year-old daughter Paige (Holly Taylor) having learned their secret – that they are really Soviet spies named Mischa and Nadezhda. Meanwhile their secret is at risk by Paige’s blossoming relationship with the son of the FBI agent who lives next door.
Russell is relieved she said “yes” to playing a cold-hearted communist who embarks on risky undercover schemes for the KGB but reveals she turned down the offer at first until she understood just how interesting the complicated marriage would be to play.
“It explores the dynamics every relationship has to deal with, like trust and jealousy, but the spy stuff allows those issues to have bigger stakes and that heightened tension makes this a great job,” she told Gold Derby.
Her character has such a steadfast devotion to Mother Russia that Elizabeth she will do anything and sacrifice anyone for the sake of the motherland – which leads to many dramatic and disturbing moments.
In one memorable scene she got a tooth knocked loose in a fight with FBI agents but didn’t want to have it removed at the dentist in case that alerted authorities to her identity. So instead she had her husband remove it with pliers in their garage. Ouch!
Russell especially loves the chance to play an action woman and the impact her fight scenes have on fans. Kerri reveals, “After the episode when I got to beat up Margo Martindale’s character, I’d be walking down the street in New York City, and every construction worker would be like, “Yo! You really kicked that lady’s ass!”
“The Americans,” which was created by former CIA case officer Joe Weisberg, returns to FX at 10pm on March 7.
