Take a Tour of The Americans' Writers' Room, Where the U.S. Meets the U.S.S.R.

By Mettie Ostrowski and Shirley Li
March 14, 2017 at 12:31 PM EDT

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Welcome to Brooklyn

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Inside the Brooklyn-based writers’ offices of FX’s The Americans, showrunners Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields chat on the purple couch alongside writers (from left) Stephen Schiff, Tracey Scott Wilson, Peter Ackerman, and Joshua Brand. A cardboard cutout of former President Ronald Reagan watches over the roundtable.

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Portrait Pranks

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No, these aren’t Philip and Elizabeth’s latest disguises. These crude doodles were made by Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys, who snuck into the writers’ room, where the cast’s portraits are taped to a wall, and drew all over each other’s photos. Rhys gave Russell an uneven unibrow; Russell retaliated with a lopsided goatee.

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Props-aganda

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Key art from previous seasons (the one on the left comes from season 1) and propaganda posters used on the drama hang from walls around the office.

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1984 Meets 2017

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On an aptly red-colored wall, writers have constructed a timeline of notable events from 1984, during which season 5 takes place. 

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Joel and Joe

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Showrunners Joel Fields (left) and Joe Weisberg talk inside their office.

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Beat the Clock

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Three clocks hang right outside Weisberg and Fields’ shared office — along with a punchline only The Americans can deliver.

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From the Roundtable

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Ackerman talks as Brand listens. More posters can be seen in the background.

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Reagan Ergonomics

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Cardboard Reagan has some trouble staying propped up against a propaganda poster. 

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On Their Shelves

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The Americans‘ writers’ offices have bookcases filled with novels and non-fiction titles to help them craft a realistic Cold War spy story.

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