‘The Americans’ Finale Earns First Writing Emmy For Joe Weisberg And Joel Fields

Everybody loves a swan song. Tonight, The Americans creator Joe Weisberg and executive producer Joel Fields took home the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Writing, their only win in six seasons with the acclaimed FX series, which afforded guest actress Margo Martindale two statuettes of her own, in 2015 and 2016, and took 18 nominations throughout the years since its 2013 debut.

Weisberg and Fields won their Emmys for series finale “Start,” which aired May 30 and brought to an end this tale of two Russian agents (played by Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell) posing as an average American couple at the height of the Cold War. Taking the stage at the Microsoft Theater with Fields, Weisberg thanked “television critics who helped keep us on the air,” the series’ “diehard, slightly treasonous fans,” and the entire team behind the production—on set, at FX and beyond. Said Weisberg, “It’s the kind of team you wait your whole life to be on.”

Tonight, the collaborators beat out a field that included the creators of five acclaimed dramas: The Crown’s Peter Morgan, Game of Thrones‘ David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, The Handmaid’s Tale‘s Bruce Miller, Killing Eve‘s Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and of course The Duffer Brothers, the minds behind Netflix phenomenon Stranger Things.

While The Americans perhaps didn’t receive the awards recognition it should have seen for a number of years, TV Academy members’ appreciation of the series is clear tonight. Following the writer’s win, Rhys received his first Emmy for the role of Philip Jennings. While Russell was snubbed in favor of The Crown‘s Claire Foy, the series will also compete for Outstanding Drama Series at night’s end.