Keri Russell On the "Surprising" End of FX’s “The Americans”

FX last night telecast the series finale of its much-lauded thriller The Americans, ending the story of Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, two KGB spies posing as Americans in suburban 1980’s Washington, D.C., that began six years ago.  No one was more surprised by the events of the ending than Keri Russell, who had no idea throughout the run of series how the couple’s story might conclude.  “One thing I've always loved about the series is [being] continually surprised, in a good way; always being surprised by the turns and twists as they never bored by me,” she revealed during a post-mortem conference call for the series.  “I had no idea what was in store.  The way the season was going, by the third or fourth episode I thought they were setting [my character] up to die.  She was so unlikable and could never redeem herself -- but I was on board for whatever they wanted.  I'd kind of grown accustomed to trusting them and not guessing because I've always been so far off.  I didn't know how it was going to go at all.  [Warning: The rest of this column contains spoilers about the series finale.]