‘The Americans’ Season 4 – Matthew Rhys Interview

Matthew Rhys The Americans
Matthew Rhys during the ‘The Americans’ panel at the 2016 FX WINTER TCA (Photo by Frank Micelotta/FX)

So many threads were left dangling on the season three finale of FX’s The Americans that star Matthew Rhys spent the summer equally as anxious as the viewers to find out what would happen in season four. During our interview with Rhys at the Television Critics Association’s 2016 press day, Rhys said, “I was dying to know how it would all pan out. You keep lighting fuses at the end of certain seasons and you spend the summer going around, ‘How is this going to resolve itself or not?’”

After participating in FX’s TCA Q&A, Rhys chatted with reporters about Philip’s motivation, the Jennings family relationships, and wearing wigs. Season four starring Rhys, Keri Russell, Noah Emmerich, Holly Taylor, and Alison Wright is set to premiere on March 16, 2016 at 10pm ET/PT.

Matthew Rhys Interview:

Do you think it was a big turning point for Philip when Elizabeth decided she loved him?

Matthew Rhys: “Oh, enormous. I think it hinged on that because they wouldn’t have survived without that. That’s what added the intensity to everything. If it had carried on being these two operatives sort of following a mandate but bonded by children, it would be a lot different show. It’s the fact that they do fall in love that makes everything else so incredibly difficult.”


Does that make him easier to play or harder to play?

Matthew Rhys: “I don’t think it makes him easier to play. It makes the situations harder but infinitely more interesting.”

Is it always exciting to play the scenes where Philip has to improvise to survive and not blow his cover, and to see how his actions are rationalized?

Matthew Rhys: “Absolutely. I stand by that that they do give an enormous amount of thought to very specific spontaneous moments and how they would react or whatever. And that just makes the playing of it that much more exciting and real as well.”

Does Philip really care for Martha at this point, or does the show need to show him caring about Martha in order to keep the character relatable and not have people write him off?

Matthew Rhys: “You know, I think for Philip there was in the recruitment of Martha in the beginning, there may have been an element of naivety on his behalf, that he was just intelligence-gathering in a way that was working whereby he hoped, I think, maybe, as I say, ignorantly or not, the jeopardy was of a low level. And then once the switch was turned and it’s like the payoff of having four seasons, you can start planting these ticking bombs with the knowledge that, sooner or later, they will go off, which sort of dramatically is fantastic. And I think as soon as the big reveal came, you knew there was this downward spiral. I think, for Philip in that moment, he realized there was the manipulation of an innocent that played heavily on his moral conscious and compass and that sort of fed into how he interacted with Martha.”

Are the wigs uncomfortable? Is it a mixed blessing to get to wear these disguises?

Matthew Rhys: “Absolutely. You know what I think? Inevitably, so many shows aren’t sure what they are at the beginning. There was an element of disguise that started in the pilot and caught fire and then they ran with it. I have to say I hate wearing wigs. They’re desperately uncomfortable. I don’t know if you know this, but Keri and I often swap wigs. We do. They restyle them. Our hair department is amazing in what they do. However, if I’m wearing one of Keri’s wigs, it’s incredibly tight on my head.”

Americans Season 4 Poster

Is there anything from the ‘80s that shocks you as far as the clothes and tchotchkes and such? Are you still discovering that decade?

Matthew Rhys: “No, not really. I’m a child of the ‘80s so it’s always been vivid for me. And, you know, the show’s always been careful in staying away from the madness of the ‘80s, the shoulder pads and the fingerless gloves and things that pop. I think they’ve kept it an understated ‘80s show, which I think was wise. So we do stay away from the insanity of the ‘80s.”

Is there a pop cultural moment or news moment from the ‘80s that you hope you get to play some part in in the show?

Matthew Rhys: “I always wanted to do the dance from Dexys Midnight Runners ‘Come On Eileen’ on the show but we’ve just passed that moment. I was like, ‘Can’t we get that?’ And they’re like, ‘No, it’s too expensive.’ I could have put on my denim dungarees and clapped above my head.”

Is there any kind of connection between what’s happening on this show and now geopolitically? Is there an eerie kind of element?

Matthew Rhys: “I think there’s certainly strong overtones of it when we weave in and out of things that are going on. I remember when the first show aired and some reviewers were saying, ‘This doesn’t seem very credible,’ and then that CIA agent was called to court in Moscow with all those wigs. And we were like, ‘Ha-ha – it still goes on!’ This was based on the arrests in 2010 of that Russian cell in New Jersey only they put it back in the Cold War. So it absolutely is, especially the way Putin is these days.”

In the early episodes of The Americans, Philip had an optimism about America and had hopes that this was his real home. Is that Philip gone?

Matthew Rhys: “Yes, I think to a degree. To me personally, I’ve always had this thing that with each season, the intensity increases. And I think for Philip it becomes a sort of quest for survival. I think his goal has become kind of narrower, more pure in that he wants his family to be okay and that means having to do everything to the best of his ability. So is there a part of him that still wants and yearns for that? Yes, absolutely. But I think what we see more is this metronome increasing as he’s kind of going, ‘I just need to do everything as best as I can so everyone stays alive.'”

How do you feel about the possibility the show will end after season 6? Is it something you’d like to do for many more seasons to come?

Matthew Rhys: “I think parts like these are few and far between with this sort of level of intensity, duplicity, the sort of multiple personality elements, the multiple relationships elements. I don’t see parts like this coming along often, so I’m happy to play it as long as possible.”