'The Americans' renewed; will end after Season 6

LOS ANGELES, May 25 (UPI) -- The Americans will come to a close after Season 6.

FX renewed the series for a final two seasons this week ahead of the Season 4 finale. Season 5 will consist of 13 episodes and air in 2017, with a 10-episode final season to follow in 2018.

"Through its first four seasons, critics have lauded The Americans as one of the best shows on television and, remarkably, a series that keeps getting better every year," FX president of original programming Eric Schrier said in a statement.

"We have no doubt that this two-season order will allow Joe [Weisberg] and Joel [Fields] to tell this story to its perfect conclusion," he added of the show's series creators.

The Americans stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as Elizabeth and Philip Jennings, two Soviet KGB officers posing as an American married couple. Holly Taylor and Keidrich Sellati co-star as the pair's initially unsuspecting children, Paige and Henry.

"It's hard to believe we're heading into the final stretch of The Americans and we're so grateful to know we'll be telling the story to its conclusion," Weisberg and Fields said.

"It's a lot of people putting their hearts and souls into The Americans, at this point for a lot of years," the pair acknowledged. "We're looking forward to the final two [seasons]."

Weisberg and Fields confirmed the series was headed toward a conclusion in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in March. Weisberg said at the time he and Fields have "a pretty good sense" of how they want to end the show.

"I would say we got it down to about four different endings," he revealed. "So we're pretty well honed in on a zone we're going to go to, but we haven't decided for sure. And the way that we work, it could also all change."

The Americans airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET and will broadcast its Season 4 finale June 8.