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LLeave it to The Americans showrunners to entirely subvert our expectations. With their acclaimed FX spy thriller heading into its penultimate season, do Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields tell us how season 5 is gaining steam toward some exciting conclusion? Nope! Not even a little.

“We’ve come to embrace the slow burn — such a slow burn that it may not even be burning at all,” Weisberg says wryly. “It’s not ramped up. It’s not hyped up. It’s not building the tension — but it will be a great season.” So what, then, is going on with EW’s first look image of stars Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell in flight crew garb? Below we spoke to the ever-crafty producers and tried our best to get some answers about the new season, which debuts in March.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: When producers know they’re doing a penultimate season, they usually opt for one of two tactics: Either more ramping up to the dramatic final season or they approach things like it’s actually the first half of the final season and major events are happening throughout. Which did you opt for?

JOE WEISBERG: We are doing neither of those tactics. We have a whole new tactic. People have called this show a “slow burn.” We used to think that was a back-handed compliment, or possibly even an insult. We’ve come to embrace the slow burn — such a slow burn that it may not even be burning at all. We’re just telling a story as it unfolds. For us, the penultimate season is just another season of telling a story of this family and the people around them. It’s not ramped up. It’s not hyped up. It’s not building the tension — but it will be a great season.

JOEL FIELDS: In a strange way this story has come to life so much for us that we’re just telling the story we have and following it. It would seem backward to us to say, “How do we construct backward from the final season of the show?” When FX picked up the final season they didn’t say, “You have 23 episodes left.” They said, “What do you guys feel?” and “let’s have a dialogue and how much we need together to tell this story.” The story is giving us more than we’re giving the story.

WEISBERG: Just to be really difficult, we should tell everybody that we’re slowing down. Because when you’re about to come to a stop, you’ve got to slow down! So we’re slowing down some and then next season we’re going to cruise very slowly to the finish line. There were no airbags in the ‘80s, you have to be very careful. Continue reading The Americans: First season 5 cryptic details