# The Americans (2013)

> Two KGB officers posing as an American suburban couple struggle to keep their secret life from their children and the FBI agent living next door.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/42159

## Facts

- Seasons: 6
- Episodes: 75
- Episode runtime: 46 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, thriller
- Created by: Joe Weisberg
- Network: FX
- Cast: Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Holly Taylor, Keidrich Sellati, Susan Misner, Noah Emmerich, Dylan Baker, Costa Ronin
- TMDB rating: 8.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2149175/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: tense, melancholic, intimate, morally weighted

## What critics say

Audiences widely regard The Americans as an acclaimed spy drama whose tension, performances and emotional depth build steadily, with its final season rated highest.

## Synopsis

The Americans (2013-2018) is a United States period spy drama created by Joe Weisberg for FX. Keri Russell plays Elizabeth Jennings and Matthew Rhys plays Philip Jennings, two Soviet KGB officers posing as an American married couple in suburban Washington D.C. while raising their two children, including daughter Paige (Holly Taylor). Their neighbor Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) is an FBI counterintelligence agent whose work keeps brushing against their hidden lives. The engine of the series is the tension between the operations they must run, from recruiting sources to stealing secrets, and the family they have built under false names, which threatens to expose them at every turn. Each season moves through a continuing story of escalating risk, with missions and domestic crises woven together across six seasons. Set in the 1980s during the final years of the Cold War, the show carries a melancholic, tense, and morally weighted atmosphere, with brutal violence rendered in measured, character-driven scenes. Fans of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Night Manager and Homeland will find resonance in its patient espionage and divided loyalties.

## Shows like The Americans

- [The Company (2007)](https://ember.film/tv/5040)
- [Berlin Station (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/58467)
- [The Diplomat (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/126780)
- [The Blacklist (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/42516)
- [Traitors (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/73675)
- [Madam Secretary (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/54725)
- [In From the Cold (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/115621)
- [Manhattan (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/54507)
- [Apostle (2008)](https://ember.film/tv/60165)
- [A Spy Among Friends (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/114520)

---

Site overview: https://ember.film/llms.txt