Featuring Creator/Co-Showrunner Joe Weisberg, Executive Producer/Co-Showrunner Joel Fields, and Writers Hilary Bettis, Sarah Nolen, Justin Weinberger and Tracey Scott Wilson. Moderated by Michael Winship.
Join us for a discussion with the creators and writers of THE AMERICANS (FX), approaching the finale of its sixth and final season. One of the most popular and discussed series on TV, this saga of Russian spies posing as a suburban American family has had a staff of remarkable writers and we’ll be talking with them about the history of the series, the intricacies of its plotting, its 1980s verisimilitude and how to maintain peace, perestroika and glasnost in a successful writers room. Reception to follow.
Created by Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields, THE AMERICANS is a period drama about the complex marriage of two KGB spies posing as Americans in suburban Washington D.C. during the Reagan administration.
The arranged marriage of Philip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth Jennings (Keri Russell) grows more passionate and genuine by the day, but as the pressures and demands of the job grow heavier, the personal toll becomes almost too exhausting to bear. Having revealed their true identities to their teenage daughter, Paige (Holly Taylor), Philip and Elizabeth’s ability to protect their cover and their family’s safety deteriorates.
After a particularly fraught mission, Philip and Elizabeth decide to end their tour and take their family home to Russia. However, a game-changing development in one of their ongoing cases forces them to abandon those plans for the sake of the motherland. Now, Paige delves deeper into the family business, even as Philip takes a step back from it. The Jennings struggle to maintain a smokescreen of normalcy, especially around their son, Henry (Keidrich Sellati), who remains blissfully ignorant of the spies in his midst.
Their neighbor and Philip’s best friend, FBI Agent Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich), has also yet to discover their true identities. Although he’s transferred divisions, Stan remains their greatest threat since his friend and former partner, Agent Dennis Aderholt (Brandon J. Dirden), leads the force tasked with uncovering the Soviet Illegals hiding in plain sight.
With Gorbachev in power in the Soviet Union, the winds of change are sweeping through both Russia and America, creating new perils. A growing rift within the KGB draws disillusioned former officer Oleg Burov (Costa Ronin) back into the fray, and may set Philip and Elizabeth on opposing sides as the Cold War reaches its boiling point.
RSVP Cancellation Policy
Three-Strike Rule
We understand that unplanned issues can come up and you may need to cancel your attendance at a screening or event. If that happens, you must provide at least five (5) hours advance notice to allow the accommodation of other members on the waiting list. Cancellations must be made by email; phone cancellations will not be accepted.
After missing three screenings or events without sending a cancellation notice to events@wgaeast.org within the defined window, you will be notified that you have been placed on a three-month hiatus from attending WGAE screenings.
Please note that is your responsibility to track your reservations and strikes. You will only be notified upon your third and final strike that you have been placed on hiatus.
Our priority is ensuring that our programming is robustly attended and accessible to all members. We hope this policy will enable us to better serve the needs of all members.
