Matthew Rhys is going under cover with co-star Keri Russell, while a well-placed source says Super 8’s Noah Emmerich is close to a deal to join the pair.
The Brothers & Sisters star has been tapped to play a KGB spy in FX’s drama pilot The Americans. The project, ordered to pilot late last year, centers on the arranged marriage of Phillip (Rhys) and Elizabeth (Russell), who have two children who know nothing about their parents’ real identity.
Their relationship grows more 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 informants and spies under their control. Complicating it further is Phillip’s growing sense of affinity for the American way of life. Emmerich will play the neighbor, Stan.
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Creator Joe Weisberg (Falling Skies, Damages), who once worked for the CIA, will serve as an executive producer on the 1980’s-set project, alongside Justified showrunner Graham Yost. DreamWorks Television and its TV co-presidents Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank will act as EPs on the drama, which is being jointly produced by Fox Television Studios and FX Productions.
Americans joins fellow drama Powers in FX’s development pipeline. Both will vie for contention on a schedule that includes such shows as Justified, Sons of Anarchy and Wilfred. The network will add Charlie Sheen’s Anger Management and a Russell Brand late-night comedy series later this year.
Rhys, a Welsh actor best known for his role as Kevin Walker on the long-running ABC series, is repped by WME, United Agents and Management 360; Emmerich, whose other TV credits include arcs on AMC’s The Walking Dead and USA’s White Collar, is repped by Gersh and Brillstein.
