Matthew Rhys Felt Like He and Keri Russell Gave Into the 'Cliché' When They Fell in Love on “The Americans” (Exclusive)

Rhys tells PEOPLE he and Russell found themselves doing “everything your producers tell you not to do" while filming the FX series

Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell fell in love in an age-old Hollywood way, and even they were disappointed by the cliché of it all.

While starring as on-screen lovers on FX’s The Americans from 2013 to 2018, Rhys, 49, tells PEOPLE he and Russell, 48, were in something of “a whirlwind,” as they found themselves doing “everything your producers tell you not to do.”

“At our ripe old ages, we were like, ‘Oh, we've done it. We've cracked it. We're never going to follow that well-trodden path of cliché,’” he says, recalling the early days of their relationship, which they kept a secret on set for over a year.

They finally decided to share the news of their coupling with the show’s team when, frankly, they just couldn’t hide it anymore.

“So when we told our producers like, ‘Oh, we do have something to say,’ they're like, ‘Oh, don't tell us you're together.’ We're like, ‘Actually, we're going to have a baby.’ They were like, ‘Oh my God,’ because we'd kept it a secret for so long."

Related: Matthew Rhys Reveals The Americans Scene That 'Won't Go Away from My Brain' Featuring Longtime Love Keri Russell

Rhys says it started out as “a workplace relationship, and they happen." But nowadays, their relationship rarely sees itself in the same workplace, as the two stars juggle competing responsibilities seemingly at all times — while also juggling their 7-year-old son, Sam.

Working together is “incredibly rare,” he says, and he and Russell have made a commitment — following in the steps of “so many of our friends” — where “one works when the other doesn’t so there’s always a parent in the house.”

It works fairly well, but can be “hard,” he admits.

“There are moments where you're ships passing in the night to a degree, and that makes it a little tricky. But we try not to disrupt home life too much. So that's how we've generally done it, and for the most part, up until now, it seems to work.”

Related: Matthew Rhys Celebrates Keri Russell at 2024 Golden Globe 25 Years After Her Win for Felicity

On May 14, the longtime couple will join forces again for the first time since the conclusion of The Americans in 2018, for a play reading at The 92nd Street Y in New York City, which will see Rhys portray one of his long-time heroes, Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.

Rhys jokes that he brought about the reading of the new play by Christopher Monger, Dear Mr. Thomas: A New Play for Voices, “by force" via “the Welsh bludgeoning, as they say,” as a means of honoring Thomas, who performed on the famed New York City stage more than 70 years ago.

While it’s something of a passion project for the actor, getting Russell involved took a bit of convincing. “I told her she'd be taking part in Tuesday night's reading whether she liked it or not,” he jokes.

Russell “understands the weight of it for me and she also knows what Dylan means to me,” Rhys says. “So she very kindly said, ‘Look, whatever you want me to do, I'll do it.’ ”

The Cocaine Bear star is “very nervous” about the performance, but her longtime partner says that the chance to work together again has been a long time coming.

“We just waited. We always said The Americans was so special, it would have to be something akin that we're both so excited to do. It shouldn't just be anything.”

As for the dynamic of working with Russell given their romantic entanglements, Rhys says, “And as our relationship develops, you go through those days where sometimes you're mad at each other and you have to play happy, and sometimes you're happy with each other and you have to play mad. So it’s a whirlwind of things.”

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The Americans can be streamed in full on Hulu.

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