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The Americans · A Viewer's Companion

Two travel agents, four families, and an FBI man across the street.

Nobody on The Americans is only one person. Philip and Elizabeth Jennings are Soviet illegals whose marriage was an assignment and whose children were part of the cover; Philip keeps a second wife under a second name, and a son in another country. This chart separates the three sides — beige is the cover the KGB built, red is the Centre and its people, grey-blue is America: the Bureau and the neighbours.

The cover — the family the KGB built The Centre — Moscow's people The Americans — the Bureau and the neighbours marriage parent → child orders from the Centre a secret, or a second life † dead before the series ends
Whole chart shown — pinch to zoom in
The handlers The Rezidentura Before America The Jennings Across the street Philip's other marriage The Bureau orders from Moscow the legal side — officers inside the Soviet embassy the Centre arranged this marriage m. m. m. m. a son Philip did not know he had hers, before and during his informant — and more the same man, in a different wig they dated for a year his secretary for ten years she planted the bug in his office at the wedding Claudia played his mother, and Elizabeth his sister Gabriel their handler, twice over Frank Langella retires to Moscow, S5 Claudia handler before and after Margo Martindale had them kidnapped, S1 Arkady Zotov the KGB Rezident Lev Gorn runs the embassy side Oleg Burov Directorate X — tech Costa Ronin a minister's son Nina Krilova † embassy clerk, then asset Annet Mahendru S4 — shot for treason Irina Semenova Philip's first love, 1959 Marina Squerciati kept his son from him Philip Jennings travel agent / KGB illegal Matthew Rhys born Mikhail Petrov, 1942 Elizabeth Jennings travel agent / KGB illegal Keri Russell born Nadezhda Popova Gregory Thomas † the activist she recruited Derek Luke S1 — suicide by cop Sandra Beeman Stan's wife, then his ex Susan Misner moves out in Season 2 Stan Beeman FBI counterintelligence Noah Emmerich hunts illegals next door Renee Stan's second wife Laurie Holden Philip thinks she's KGB Mischa Semenov Philip's Soviet son Alex Ozerov turned back at the door Paige Jennings the child who notices Holly Taylor told the truth in S3 Henry Jennings the child nobody tells Keidrich Sellati left behind at school Matthew Beeman Stan and Sandra's son Daniel Flaherty dated Paige, 1983–84 Clark Westerfeld the man Martha married Matthew Rhys, in a wig no such person exists Martha Hanson secretary, counterintel Alison Wright S4 — flown to Moscow Frank Gaad † chief of the CI desk Richard Thomas dies in Thailand, 1983 Dennis Aderholt Stan's partner on the case Brandon J. Dirden runs the desk by 1987
Hover over any portrait to enlarge it. Gold lines are marriages, grey lines run from a marriage down to its children, solid red lines are the chain of command from Moscow, and dashed red lines are the second lives: the son in Russia, the affair Elizabeth kept, and the whole lower-left corner of this chart, which is one man wearing another man's name. Covers all six seasons, 1981–1987.

Spoiler-safe mode is on: death markers, secret-reveal labels and finale outcomes are hidden on this chart and in the notes below. Use the “Spoilers” button in the top bar to show everything again.

Why the cast keeps doubling

Almost nobody here has one name, one job or one family. These five things explain most of the confusion.

The premise

The marriage was the assignment

Philip and Elizabeth Jennings are KGB Directorate S illegals: deep-cover officers given American names, American accents and each other. They met when the Centre paired them, moved to Northern Virginia, opened a travel agency and had two children — because a couple with kids draws no attention. He was born Mikhail Petrov in Tobolsk in 1942; she was born Nadezhda Popova. Everything else on their side of the chart is scaffolding.

Two kinds of Russian

Illegals vs. the Rezidentura

The show runs two separate Soviet casts and never labels them for you. The illegals — the Jennings, and others like them — live as Americans with no diplomatic cover; if they are caught, nobody comes for them. The Rezidentura is the legal side: Arkady, Oleg and Nina are officers working out of the Soviet embassy under their own names. The two halves almost never meet, which is the point.

The handlers

Three handlers, one job

The Jennings never report to the Rezidentura — they report to a handler who reports to the Centre in Moscow. Claudia has the job first, loses it, and gets it back years later; Gabriel holds it in between. They are not colleagues so much as consecutive parents, which is why both of them end up arguing with Philip about his children.

The other marriage

Clark Westerfeld is a wig

To get inside FBI counterintelligence, Philip invents Clark Westerfeld, courts and marries Martha Hanson — secretary to the man running the hunt for him — and has her plant a bug in her boss's office. The wedding is staffed by the KGB: Claudia plays Clark's mother, Elizabeth plays his sister. When the bug is found and Stan starts watching Martha, Philip forces the Centre to fly her out; she spends the rest of the show alone in Moscow.

The second generation

Only one child is told

The Centre wants the Jennings children recruited. Philip refuses; Elizabeth does not. In Season 3 they tell Paige the truth — and she promptly tells her pastor, which nearly ends everything. From sixteen she is trained by Elizabeth and Claudia. Henry is never told anything; he ends up at boarding school in New Hampshire, playing hockey, while his family's life detonates several states away.

The finale

The garage, and the train

December 1987. A priest's description of two churchgoers puts Aderholt on the Jennings, and Stan corners Philip, Elizabeth and Paige in a parking garage. Philip asks him to look after Henry. Stan lets them go. The three drive north for the Canadian border — and Paige steps off the train before it crosses, and goes back alone to Claudia's empty apartment. Philip's last word to Stan is that Renee may be one of them. The show never answers.

The name decoder

Every Russian on this show has at least two names, and several of the Americans do too. Keep these straight:

Philip vs. Mikhail vs. Mischa

Three names, two people. Philip Jennings was born Mikhail Petrov — "Mischa" for short. His son by Irina, back in Russia, was named after him and goes by Mischa too. When someone in Moscow says the name, check which one they mean.

Elizabeth vs. Nadezhda

Same woman. Elizabeth Jennings is the American identity issued to her; Nadezhda is the girl her mother writes to on cassette tapes smuggled out of Smolensk. Nobody in Virginia has ever heard the second name.

Philip vs. Clark

Clark Westerfeld is a bespectacled federal auditor with thinning hair and no existence outside Philip's wig box. Martha spends four seasons married to him. The wedding photograph on her mantelpiece is a KGB operation.

Gabriel vs. Claudia

Both are the Jennings' handler — the same chair, different occupants. Claudia has it in Season 1, Gabriel from Season 2, Claudia again from Season 5. Neither is their boss's boss: that is "the Centre", which is never a person.

Arkady vs. Oleg vs. Nina

The embassy trio, in order of rank. Arkady is the Rezident — the KGB's chief in Washington. Oleg runs the science-and-technology desk. Nina is a clerk who ends up working for the FBI, the KGB and herself, in that order.

Gaad vs. Aderholt vs. Beeman

The Bureau's three. Frank Gaad is the boss of the counterintelligence department, Dennis Aderholt the agent who does the careful work and eventually inherits the department, and Stan Beeman the one who lives across the street from the people he is looking for.

Sandra vs. Renee

Two Mrs. Beemans. Sandra is Stan's first wife and Matthew's mother; she leaves him in Season 2 for a man she meets at EST. Renee is the woman he meets at the gym afterwards, and the one Philip cannot stop looking at sideways.

Martha vs. Elizabeth

Both are married to the same man and neither knows the other exists in that sense — though Elizabeth has met Martha, playing Clark's sister "Jennifer" at the wedding and in Martha's own living room.

Not family — but they change everything

Pastor Tim as seen in the show, played by Kelly AuCoin

Pastor Tim

Kelly AuCoin

The youth pastor at Paige's church, and the closest thing she has to an adult who isn't lying to her — which is exactly why the secret she tells him nearly gets him killed.

William Crandall as seen in the show, played by Dylan Baker

William Crandall

Dylan Baker

Another illegal, twenty-five years deep, working inside a bio-containment lab. Born Vitaly Sorokin. He shows you what the Jennings look like without a marriage and without children: alone, and very tired.

Kimberly Breland as seen in the show, played by Julia Garner

Kimberly Breland

Julia Garner

The lonely teenage daughter of the CIA's Afghan group chief. Philip befriends her as "James" to get at her father's briefcase, in the storyline the show uses to ask what he has become.

Young-Hee Seong as seen in the show, played by Ruthie Ann Miles

Young-Hee Seong

Ruthie Ann Miles

A Mary Kay consultant who befriends "Patty" — Elizabeth in a wig — and becomes the only real friend she has ever had in America, right up until the operation requires her marriage to be destroyed.

Tuan Eckert as seen in the show, played by Ivan Mok

Tuan Eckert

Ivan Mok

A teenage agent for Vietnamese intelligence, on loan to the Soviets, who plays the adopted son of "Brad and Dee Eckert" in Topeka. A second-generation illegal already fully formed — and a preview of what Paige could be.

Father Andrei as seen in the show, played by Konstantin Lavysh

Father Andrei

Konstantin Lavysh

The Russian Orthodox priest who quietly reports to Gabriel — and who marries Philip and Elizabeth under their real names. In the final season the FBI puts him under surveillance, and his description of the couple is what finally undoes them.

A note on the portraits: these are the characters as they appear on screen — stills and cast photographs from The Americans wiki, cropped and served from this site so nothing loads from anyone else's servers. Facts, names and season numbers checked against that wiki rather than from memory. Chart reflects the complete series, all six seasons, 1981–1987 — spoilers to the finale.