Current events notwithstanding, the Cold War is in full swing on “The Americans,” FX’s Reagan-era spy drama.
The television series, filmed in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood and on-location throughout New York, follows two K.G.B. agents posing as an American couple in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys play Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, who ferret out U.S. secrets while running a travel agency and raising two children.
As it inches toward the Season Two midpoint, the show has sharpened its focus on the nebulous balance between espionage and domesticity.
Before “The Americans,” Ms. Russell, 38 years old, was best known for playing the title character in the college TV drama “Felicity.” Mr. Rhys, 39, is from Wales, and has become adept at concealing his accent in both this role and his former one, as Kevin Walker on the ABC series “Brothers and Sisters,” which ended in 2011.
Taking a break at the Russian Tea Room, the two actors discussed the show’s depiction of how spies raise children and filming through New York’s never-ending winter. Edited excerpts follow. Continue reading Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys Play Spies in Our Midst