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.]

“All of [the final] script surprised me,” she continued.  “I had no idea they’d take such an emotional route of devastation [with their] kids.  I did not see the Henry (Keidrich Sellati) aspect coming at all and that was just devastating to me.”  The writers’ decision to have the couple lose custody of their children indeed blindsided the actress.

“[After reading the script] one of our directors, Tommy Schlamme, said something that made so much sense,” she continued.  “You are watching this couple and rooting for them, but want them to pay for what they have done, but then chose the most painful way for them to pay” – they took their kids away.  They’d already lost Henry, but to take their daughter Paige (Holly Taylor) away?  As a mother, it was too much!”

 

Steve Gidlow

Steve Gidlow, a long-time columnist for MediaVillage ("Behind the Scenes in Hollywood"), has written about television and pop culture since 1994, beginning in Australia.  Since moving to Hollywood in 1997, Steve has focused on celebrity interv… read more