'The Americans' spies wrestle with family issues

PASADENA, Calif. — When we last visited FX's The Americans Russian spies Philip and Elizabeth Jennings (Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell) were dismayed to learn their bosses want to convert their daughter Paige to the cause.

That plot point proves key to the show's third season, due Jan. 28 (10 p.m. ET/PT). The goal this season, says executive producer Joel Fields, was to explore the conflict over their daughter's destiny, and what happens when a committed couple "have a conflict over the most important thing in their lives."

Russell's favorite scenes are about the "complicated marriage" in which the spies have sex with other people as part of their jobs. And the conflict over Paige (Holly Taylor) is an outgrowth of that. "If she's going to be indoctrinated, it's going to be by me," she says.

The critically acclaimed show is a mix of action and emotion. "You have to go from these intense emotional scenes to putting on wigs and fighting," Rhys told the Television Critics Association. Including Beeman's (Noah Emmerich) FBI boss, played by Richard Thomas. "What other show do you see Felicity beat up John-Boy Walton?" he says.

The new season also finds the Jennings' still-unsuspecting neighbor and FBI agent Stan Beeman's own marriage still troubled and pining for his love, a sort of triple agent Nina Sergeevna (Annet Mahendru), who's now languishing in a Soviet prison.

Will Margo Martindale, a two-time Emmy nominee for her role as the agents' handler, Claudia, return now that her CBS sitcom The Millers has been canceled? Frank Langella plays the agents' new minder, who's been lured from retirement. "We have our plans, and we're pretty deep into our season," says Fields. But he was coy: "Claudia's not dead."