112 Fun Facts About The Americans

On which US cable network did The Americans air?

The Americans aired on FX for six seasons, from January 2013 to May 2018.

Who plays Elizabeth Jennings?

Russell had won a Golden Globe for a WB drama more than a decade earlier.

Who plays Philip Jennings?

Matthew Rhys plays Philip; he went on to star as Perry Mason in HBO's 2020 series.

Which Soviet agency do the Jenningses secretly work for?

They are KGB officers of Directorate S, the branch that ran deep-cover illegals living under false identities abroad.

In which Virginia suburb do the Jenningses live?

The Jenningses live in Falls Church, Virginia, a suburb just outside Washington, D.C., where the couple operate.

What cover business do Philip and Elizabeth run?

Their cover is a travel agency, Dupont Circle Travel; by the final season Philip has quit spying to run it full time as it loses money.

Who is the FBI counterintelligence agent who moves in next door?

FBI counterintelligence agent Stan Beeman moves in across the street and becomes Philip's best friend without suspecting him for years.

Who plays Stan?

Noah Emmerich almost turned the part down because he was tired of playing men with badges.

What was the creator's job before television?

Creator Joe Weisberg was a CIA officer from 1990 to 1994 before writing for television, and drew on that experience for the show's spycraft.

What are the names of the Jennings children?

The children are Paige and Henry, both born in America and raised unaware of their parents' work until Paige learns the truth as a teenager.

Whose presidency has just begun when the series opens?

The pilot is set in February 1981, weeks after Ronald Reagan's inauguration on January 20, 1981.

Which arms-control agreement is about to be signed when the series concludes?

The finale is set during the December 1987 Washington Summit, where Reagan and Gorbachev signed the INF Treaty banning intermediate-range nuclear missiles.

How many episodes were made in total?

The Americans made 75 episodes: five 13-episode seasons plus a 10-episode sixth season, from 2013 to 2018.

Which Fleetwood Mac song plays over the pilot's opening abduction and car chase?

Fleetwood Mac's 1979 single "Tusk" scores the pilot's opening abduction and car chase, one of the show's best-known music cues.

What is the title of the series finale?

The series finale is titled "START", after the strategic arms talks; it aired on FX on May 30, 2018.

Which U2 song plays as the Jenningses' train heads for the Canadian border in the finale?

U2's "With or Without You", a 1987 single from The Joshua Tree, scores the finale's train ride toward the Canadian border.

Where does Stan confront the Jenningses in the finale?

Stan confronts Philip, Elizabeth and Paige in a parking garage; he draws his gun, hears them out, and lets them drive away.

What last American meal do Philip, Elizabeth and Paige eat in the finale?

Their last American meal is at a McDonald's on the drive north; on the train they then sit apart as strangers.

Where is the family's train heading when they cross the border?

The train is bound for Montreal; they clear border security at Rouses Point, New York, before crossing into Quebec.

What shocks Philip and Elizabeth as the train leaves the United States?

They see Paige standing alone on the platform, having slipped off the train; she returns to Claudia's abandoned safe house and pours a vodka.

Which child do the Jenningses decide to leave behind in America?

They leave Henry behind to finish school in America; in the parking garage Philip asks Stan to look after him.

Whom does Philip warn Stan about before leaving?

Philip tells Stan that his wife Renee 'might be one of us'; whether she is a KGB plant is left unanswered.

What passports do the Jenningses use to escape?

They travel on Canadian passports; before boarding they bury the evidence of their American lives, including a fake passport Henry will never use.

Who is arrested by the FBI in the final episodes after picking up a dead drop?

Oleg Burov is arrested by the FBI after retrieving a dead drop; he came to the US without diplomatic cover, so he faces prison rather than expulsion.

Which Emmy did Rhys win for the finale?

Weisberg and Fields won the writing Emmy for the same episode.

Who directed the pilot?

Gavin O'Connor, who had directed Emmerich in Pride and Glory (2008), directed the pilot and talked his friend into taking the FBI role.

Whom do the Jenningses kidnap in the pilot?

He had raped Elizabeth during her training; Philip kills him in their garage.

What does Stan borrow from Philip in the pilot that lets him see the Jenningses' car?

Stan asks to borrow jumper cables, and in the garage sees the Jenningses' Oldsmobile, the same model as the kidnappers' car; later he sneaks in to search its trunk.

How many US viewers watched the pilot?

The pilot drew 3.22 million US viewers on January 30, 2013; no later episode came close, and the finale drew 922,000.

What is Elizabeth's Russian birth name?

Elizabeth was born Nadezhda, a Russian name meaning 'hope'; Elizabeth Jennings is the cover identity she took on in America.

What is Philip's Russian birth name?

Philip was born Mikhail, called Mischa; he later learns that Irina bore him a son, also named Mischa, back in the USSR.

In which city was Elizabeth born?

Elizabeth was born in Smolensk, west of Moscow, a city largely destroyed during the German occupation in the Second World War.

In what year did Philip and Elizabeth arrive in America?

They arrived in 1965, as the pilot's flashbacks show, having been assigned to each other as a couple three years earlier.

Whom did Elizabeth recruit and have a long affair with in the 1960s?

Gregory Thomas, played by Derek Luke, was Elizabeth's first recruit and long-time lover; he returns in her dream in the finale.

Whose study do the Jenningses bug with a clock in season 1?

They bug Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger's study in the episode 'The Clock'; Philip poses as a Swedish intelligence officer to obtain photos of the room.

Under which false identity does Philip romance FBI secretary Martha?

Martha marries 'Clark' without ever learning his real name; Philip uses the identity to draw classified information out of the FBI office.

Who plays Martha Hanson?

Alison Wright, an English actress born in Sunderland, plays Martha; the role was her first major television part.

What is Martha allowed to do in the USSR in season 5?

Martha is allowed to adopt an orphan; in the season 5 finale she visits an orphanage and meets the little girl she will take home.

Who is Nina Krilova?

Stan blackmails her into spying, then falls for her.

What happens to Nina in season 4?

Her appeal is denied and the sentence carried out on the spot.

Who plays Nina?

Mahendru has a Russian mother and speaks six languages.

Who is Oleg when he first arrives at the Rezidentura?

Oleg arrives in season 2 as the Rezidentura's Science and Technology officer, running Line X; as a minister's son he is seen as a privileged playboy.

Who plays Oleg?

Costa Ronin, born in Kaliningrad and raised in Australia, plays Oleg; he later played another Russian intelligence officer on a rival network's spy drama.

Who is the KGB Rezident played by Lev Gorn?

Lev Gorn plays Arkady Ivanovich Zotov, the Rezident; by season 6 Arkady is deputy chief of Directorate S and a Gorbachev supporter.

Who plays the Jenningses' handler Claudia?

Margo Martindale plays Claudia, the Jenningses' hard-nosed handler; she was a recurring guest star until she joined the main cast for season 6.

How many Emmys did Martindale win for playing Claudia?

She was nominated four times in the guest actress category.

Who plays handler Gabriel?

Langella has won four Tony Awards.

Who plays FBI supervisor Frank Gaad?

Thomas is forever John-Boy to a generation of viewers.

What does Gaad break in a fit of temper, giving the KGB an opening?

Gaad kicks and damages the FBI's mail robot; the Jenningses bug it at the repair shop, where Elizabeth encounters the bookkeeper Betty.

What does Elizabeth let bookkeeper Betty do after revealing she is a Russian spy?

Elizabeth makes Betty swallow a fatal overdose of her heart medication; the scene is in 'Do Mail Robots Dream of Electric Sheep?', an Emmy-nominated script.

Which season 3 episode was Emmerich's directorial debut?

Emmerich's directorial debut was 'Walter Taffet', the season 3 episode named for the OPR investigator who sweeps the FBI office; he directed again in later seasons.

On the night of which Reagan address does season 3 end?

Season 3 ends on March 8, 1983, the night of Reagan's 'Evil Empire' speech; the finale carries the date as its title.

Whom do Philip and Elizabeth finally confess their identities to in season 3?

They confess to Paige in the season 3 episode 'Stingers', after she confronts them over their secrecy and late-night absences.

Whom does Paige tell her parents' secret to?

Pastor Tim hears it; the Jenningses debate killing him and his wife Alice, then decide to 'work' them instead.

Which teenage girl does Philip cultivate because of her CIA father?

Kimmy Breland, played by Julia Garner, is the teenage daughter of a CIA officer; Philip befriends her as 'Jim' to bug her father's briefcase.

What does Gabriel give Philip to help him bond with Kimmy?

Afghani marijuana comes with Gabriel's advice on gleaning information from Kimmy and on recruiting Paige; Philip plants a bug in her father's attaché case.

Who is William Crandall?

Dylan Baker plays him for one season.

Which disease agent does William hand the Jenningses in the season 4 premiere?

In the season 4 premiere William hands over a vial of glanders; Philip finds it unbroken in his pocket after Stan slams him against a wall.

How does William die?

Delirious, he describes a spy couple with two kids, a clue Stan remembers years later.

Where is William's body dug up in the season 5 premiere?

They dig up William's body at Fort Detrick, where the Army buried him; Hans cuts his hand in the grave and Elizabeth kills him on the spot.

Where do the Jenningses finally take the kids on a family trip in season 4?

They take the kids to Epcot at Walt Disney World; the trip comes in the montage of 'The Magic of David Copperfield V', an episode named for a Copperfield TV special.

Which 1983 TV film unsettles the characters about nuclear war in season 4?

They watch The Day After, ABC's November 1983 television film about nuclear war; the season 4 episode shares its title.

On the night of which event does season 4 end?

Season 4 ends on the night of Super Bowl XVIII, January 22, 1984, when Washington lost to the Raiders; Paige and Matthew watch the game at Stan's house.

Which self-help programme do Philip and Stan's ex-wife Sandra both attend?

Both attend EST, the Erhard Seminars Training workshops; Stan went to one session with Sandra and dismissed it as nonsense.

In season 5, what cover identities do the Jenningses use to work the Morozov family?

They pose as an airline pilot and a flight attendant, Brad and Dee Eckert, with a young Vietnamese agent, Tuan, as their adopted son.

What crop does Elizabeth learn the US programme in Topeka is really trying to breed?

The program is breeding pest-resistant wheat, not pests to wreck Soviet crops as the Centre assumed; Philip is crushed by guilt over a needless killing.

Whom do the Jenningses execute in "Dyatkovo"?

Anna admits her wartime past at gunpoint; Elizabeth pulls the trigger when Philip hesitates.

What alias does Philip use when posing as a Swedish intelligence officer?

As 'Scott Birkeland', a Swedish intelligence officer, Philip runs Annelise, the official's wife who photographs Weinberger's study in season 1.

What does season 6's title "Dead Hand" refer to?

Dead Hand is the Soviet automatic nuclear-retaliation system, a doomsday device; hardliners fear Gorbachev will bargain it away at the summit.

How many years pass between the end of season 5 and the start of season 6?

Three years pass: season 5 ends in 1984 and season 6 opens in late 1987, a few months before the December Washington Summit.

What has Henry become by season 6?

Philip refuses him the school in season 5, then relents.

Whom does Elizabeth kill in "Jennings, Elizabeth" to protect Gorbachev's negotiator?

Tatiana had been sent as her replacement to assassinate Nesterenko.

What does Philip do to Marilyn's body after she is killed in "Harvest"?

Elizabeth disposes of them so the body cannot be identified.

Whose artwork stands in for dying artist Erica Haskard's paintings in season 6?

Painter Alyssa Monks supplied Erica Haskard's artwork in season 6, including pieces she created just for the series.

Which 2010 real event partly inspired Weisberg to write the pilot?

He moved the story to the 1980s so the enemies would feel real.

Whose smuggled KGB notes were among Weisberg's research materials?

Mitrokhin was a KGB archivist who defected to Britain in 1992.

Which producer read Weisberg's pilot and helped develop the show?

Yost had created the series on which Martindale won her first Emmy.

Whose idea was it to cast Russell as Elizabeth?

FX president John Landgraf suggested Keri Russell, whom the writers had not considered; Rhys was proposed separately after a casting executive saw him on stage.

Where was the show mostly filmed?

The show was filmed mostly in New York City, with Brooklyn streets and other outer-borough locations standing in for the Washington, D.C. suburbs.

Which storm delayed early filming of season 1?

Hurricane Sandy, which struck New York in late October 2012, delayed season 1 production; filming for the rest of the season began in November 2012.

Which co-showrunner did FX pair with Weisberg?

FX paired Weisberg with Joel Fields as co-showrunner; the two shared the 2018 Emmy for writing the series finale.

Which member of The Who wrote a song for the season 2 episode "Yousaf"?

Pete Townshend wrote "It Must Be Done" with the show's composer for the episode "Yousaf".

Who composed the show's music?

Nathan Barr composed the score and was Emmy-nominated in 2013 for the show's main title theme music.

Nathan Barr, the composer of The Americans, also scored which HBO vampire series?

True Blood, The Americans, Carnival Row and The Great are all on Nathan Barr's list of television scores.

How many Peabody Awards did the show win?

It was the first drama since Breaking Bad to win a second during its run.

Which Golden Globe did the final season win?

The Americans won Best Television Series – Drama at the January 2019 Golden Globes; Rhys and Russell were nominated but did not win.

How many Emmy nominations did the show receive in total?

The Americans earned 18 Primetime Emmy nominations across six seasons, including Outstanding Drama Series in 2016 and 2018; critics considered its early omissions snubs.

Which UK broadcaster dropped the show in January 2015?

ITV dropped the show in January 2015 after two seasons; its subscription channel ITV Encore later picked up seasons 3 and 4.

Which 1990s WB series won Russell a Golden Globe?

Keri Russell won the 1999 Golden Globe for Felicity, playing the title character from 1998 to 2002.

On which Disney Channel show did Russell start out at 15?

Keri Russell joined The All-New Mickey Mouse Club in 1991 at 15, winning the part largely on her dancing at the audition.

What is true of Russell and Rhys off screen?

Their first child, a son, was born in 2016.

Where was Rhys born?

Matthew Rhys was born in Cardiff, Wales, in 1974; he attended Welsh-medium schools and speaks Welsh to his son.

Which ABC family drama made Rhys's name in America before this show?

Rhys played Kevin Walker on ABC's Brothers & Sisters from 2006 to 2011.

Which Spielberg film cast Rhys as Daniel Ellsberg?

Rhys played Daniel Ellsberg in Spielberg's The Post (2017), then Lloyd Vogel opposite Tom Hanks in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.

Emmerich is best known for which 1998 Jim Carrey film?

In The Truman Show (1998), Emmerich played Marlon, Truman's best friend and a paid actor feeding him scripted lines.

Martindale won her first Emmy as Mags Bennett on which series?

The creator of that series also executive-produced The Americans.

Which Broadway role brought Langella one of his four Tonys in 2007?

Langella won the 2007 Tony for playing Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon, a role he repeated in the 2008 film for an Oscar nomination.

Thomas is best known as John-Boy on which series?

Richard Thomas played John-Boy Walton on The Waltons, winning the 1973 Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series.

Wright received an Emmy nomination for which season?

Alison Wright was Emmy-nominated for the fifth season, as Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in 2017, for Martha's scenes in Moscow.

Which Ryan Murphy series did Wright appear in after the show?

Alison Wright played Pauline Jameson, Robert Aldrich's assistant, in Ryan Murphy's Feud: Bette and Joan (2017).

On which series did Ronin later play Yevgeny Gromov?

Costa Ronin played Yevgeny Gromov, a Russian intelligence officer, in seasons 7 and 8 of Showtime's Homeland.

Dylan Baker earned three Emmy nominations for which CBS legal drama?

The Good Wife gave Dylan Baker three Primetime Emmy nominations for Colin Sweeney, the unnervingly polite murderer.

Which spy novel did Weisberg publish after leaving the CIA?

An Ordinary Spy, Weisberg's novel about a young CIA case officer, drew on his own years at the agency.

Which 2022 FX limited series did Weisberg and Fields co-create next?

The Patient (2022) stars Steve Carell as a therapist held captive by a serial killer played by Domhnall Gleeson.

What does the show's creator say the series is essentially about?

Weisberg has said the series is essentially about a marriage, with the spying an allegory for the strains of human relationships.

What does the KGB want to do with Paige, as revealed in the season 2 finale?

The Centre wants Paige trained as a second-generation illegal: an American-born spy who could reach places her parents cannot, such as the CIA.

Who really killed the Connors family in season 2?

Their son Jared, recruited by the KGB without their knowledge, shot his parents and sister after they objected to his recruitment.

Which FBI man does Philip accidentally kill in season 1?

Amador had confronted him outside Martha's; Gregory falls under suspicion for it.

What does Stan do to Vlad in the season 1 safe house?

Stan kills Vlad, shooting the young KGB officer in the back of the head as revenge for Amador's death; it haunts him for years.

Who shoots Elizabeth in the season 1 finale?

Stan shoots Elizabeth during the ambush in 'The Colonel'; recovering, she speaks Russian to Philip for the first time: 'Come home.'

Which US programme does the season 1 colonel dismiss as technically infeasible?

The colonel dismisses the Strategic Defense Initiative, Reagan's 'Star Wars' missile shield, as technically infeasible and suggests it may be a ruse to make the USSR waste money.

What was the KGB agent Rob's fate after the pilot's botched pickup?

Timoshev stabbed him during the chase.