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Mary

Keri Russell has her co-star for the FX drama pilot The Americans. Matthew Rhys of Brothers and Sisters has signed up to play Russell’s on-screen wife in the Cold War era project that follows the arranged marriage of two KGB spies living in the US and running a network of spies and informants.

Deadline reports that Rhys has been brought onto the project in the role of Phillip Jennings, whose marriage to Elizabeth Jennings, played by Russell, is a front for a Russian spy operation. The couple struggles with the discovery that their feelings for each other are growing into a real relationship while they attempt to run a secure undercover spy operation. Keri Russell of Felicity picked up the female lead just over a week ago in another attempt to regain her status as a TV star.

Rhys, who played Kevin Walker on the five seasons of Brothers and Sisters has a few movie credits and other minor TV credits to his name including Love and Other Disasters. This would be a return to what seems to work best for him: TV drama. As for the project itself, it’s described as a period drama, and I have already lamented the fact that the 1980s can now qualify as “period”, so I will try to let that go. The pilot takes place in Washington D.C. as the Cold War escalates. It will be interesting to see how the project manages to turn KGB spies, once feared and hated, into sympathetic characters. Certainly if this one is successful it will be a testament to how far we’ve come since the Cold War.

Source: http://www.cinemablend.com/

After lengthy negotiations, Keri Russell has reached an agreement to star in FX‘s period drama pilot The Americans. Created/executive produced by Joe Weisberg, executive produced by Justified showrunner Graham Yost and directed by Gavin O’Connor, the project centers on two KGB spies posing as Americans in suburban Washington, DC in the early 1980s. The arranged marriage of Phillip Jennings and Elizabeth Jennings (Russell) grows more passionate and genuine by the day but is constantly tested by the escalation of the Cold War and the intimate, dangerous and darkly funny relationships they must maintain with a network of spies and informants under their control. The Americans is produced by Fox TV Studios and FX Prods. DreamWorks TV’s Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey, who started the development process on the project, are executive producing.

The Americans marks a return to drama series for Russell, who became a household name playing the title role on the WB drama series Felicity. She recently starred in the Fox comedy Running Wilde. Russell, repped by WME, manager Joannie Burstein and attorney Robert Offer, will next be seen in the features Goats and Austenland.

Source: http://www.deadline.com/