The Americans: Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys talk sex scenes

Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys may be TV’s sexiest pair of spies, but they still get nervous being intimate on their FX drama The Americans. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, real-life couple Russell and Rhys spoke about the discomfort of performing graphic sex scenes on the show.

“No one wakes up on Tuesday morning at 6 a.m. and is [excited to be] like, ‘Hey! Nice to meet ya! OK, here we go, whoooo!’ with 50 of our friends watching,” Russell said. “But I will say I sort of love the use of it on our show because, at least in my experience being a woman, you usually have to do the most sexy, the most in love, the most romantic version. In our show, I’m in a place of power: it’s to get information from that person or to make that person feel a certain way. And that can be empowering.”

Rhys admitted to being protective over Russell during these more intimate moments on set, saying, “I’m like, ‘Can someone get her a f—in’ robe, please?! She’s standing there naked, we’ve cut for five seconds, Jesus Christ.’ And they’re like, ‘Dude, this is the fourth season.'”

“‘We’ve seen it,'” Russell quips.

Still, being a couple onscreen as well as off, the actors have a shorthand that alleviates some of the usual awkwardness between co-stars during a sex scene. Rhys said, “There’s that immediate thing where, like, physically you’re comfortable together, and so that’s fine, and you’re not all…”

“‘Can I touch your arm here?'” Russell adds.

Russell and Rhys went on to discuss their Emmy nominations, the future of The Americans, and the recent addition to their family. Head over to THR for the full interview.

The Americans returns for a fourth season in 2017.