FX has renewed The Americans for a third season.

The cable network has ordered 13 all new episodes of the 1980s spy drama, which stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys, it announced on Wednesday.

"The Americans continues be one of the best shows on television,” said FX original programming president Eric Schrier. "Executive producers Joe Weisberg, Joel Fields and Graham Yost have done a wonderful job delivering two seasons, and the performances from Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys and Noah Emmerich are stellar. Fans will be blown away by the rest of this season, and we can't wait to see what they come up with next year."

The announcement comes as little surprise for FX, which a week ago saw CEO John Landgraf praise the drama at the cabler's upfront presentation to Madison Avenue ad buyers in New York. The series, a critical darling that has been nominated for two Emmys and has been honored by the American Film Institute and Television Critics Association, has not been a breakout ratings performer for FX.

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The Americans has not been the ratings hit of many other FX series -- American Horror Story, Sons of Anarchy, Justified -- but it is one of the most time-shifted series on cable. After bowing to 1.9 million viewers in February, on par with its season-one average but down significantly from its 2013 debut, The Americans jumped to 3.3 million viewers after just three days of DVR.

In the targeted adults 18-49, the show from Fox Television Studios improved 81 percent to 1.6 million viewers. All the while, The Americans remains just as much of a prestige effort for the cable network as it does a commercial one. The series has already been nominated for Writers Guild Awards, Primetime Emmys and last summer earned a best new program win at The Americans Television Critics Association Awards.

At FX, The Americans joins a roster of original dramas that includes American Horror Story, The Bridge, Sons of Anarchy and Justified -- the latter of which will end its run after its sixth season in 2015. New dramas coming to the cabler include Carlton Cuse and Guillermo del Toro's The Strain and Howard Gordon's Tyrant.