The final season of The Americans is almost here, and FX is eager to tease the end of one of TV’s best dramas with a pair of new promos. The spy drama has been one of the most critically adored series in FX Network history since it began in 2013, and though there are some season 5 detractors, it has remained a consistently strong series throughout its surprisingly long run. But all good things come to an end, as the first of the two new promos is eager to explain, running with plenty of terrifying Cold War imagery that has suddenly taken on a new life in 2018.

But as much as The Americans is about deep-cover spies posing as an average nuclear family, it’s the last part that series creator Joseph Weisberg and co-showrunner Joel Fields are really interested in. That interest lies primarily with Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys’ Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, but now, as the end draws near, it has also begun to include their daughter Paige (Holly Taylor), who has gone from overly suspicious kid to a spy in the making.

For that you have to check out the second trailer, which offers the first glimpse of footage from the new season, and it’s about as tense as anything the show’s produced so far. The new trailer goes very dark and ominous; it really looks as though The Americans is going to be leaving it all out there this last go round. Philip’s obvious anxiety while in disguise and Elizabeth’s exhaustion are evident enough, but a few shots of Stan and a team of FBI agents checking out a crime scene and a dark, Miller’s Crossing-like shot of someone pleading for their life suggests there’s not going to be a happy ending when the series fades to black for the last time.


Of course, the biggest reveal is that the voice in the trailer is that of Elizabeth talking to her daughter, telling Paige that what she experienced is part of the job, and what’s important is that she kept her cover. It’s a great tease as Paige’s role in her parents’ espionage has been part of the series’ slow burn for quite some time. And now it looks as though she’s finally begun following in her mother’s footsteps.

Just how deep into the world of spycraft Paige has ventured is anyone’s guess. But it appears she’s (literally) in the driver’s seat with regard to her new direction in life. And with so much at stake in this final season, The Americans has added yet another Jennings to the list of characters unlikely to escape unscathed.

The final season of The Americans premieres Wednesday, March 28 on FX.