Holly Taylor conveys teen trials in FX spy drama 'The Americans'

Conflict and alienation are common for many teens, but imagine the feelings of a 15-year-old American who finds out mom and dad are undercover Soviet spies.

That’s the challenge for Paige Jennings (Holly Taylor), who learned her parents’ secret and then spilled it to her pastor in the breathtaking Season 3 cliffhanger of FX’s The Americans, the acclaimed 1980s Cold War drama that opens Season 4 Wednesday (10 p.m. ET/PT).

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“There are so many connections in the show as to family conflict: between spouses, between parents and children,” Taylor says. “It’s just that The Americans heightens it to an extreme level, because not everybody’s parents are killing people and fighting for their country during a war.”

How Paige and spy parents Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip (Matthew Rhys) respond to her desperate confession to Pastor Tim (Kelly AuCoin) is pivotal. Taylor hopes viewers see her character’s perspective.

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“Many people side with Philip and Elizabeth because they’re the protagonists. A lot of people get mad at Paige sometimes for being curious and for spilling the beans,” Taylor says. “It’s important to consider what she’s going through. Nobody knows how they would handle finding out their whole life is a lie.”

Paige, forced in many ways to raise herself and her younger brother, Henry (Keidrich Sellati), during their parents' absences, finds "a sense of family" in the church.

“Her parents abandon her a lot. What drew her to the church is that Pastor Tim provided this foundation of someone who would always be there for her, that she could talk to about anything and could trust,” Taylor says.

There’s hope for stronger family bonds, as Paige last season learned more about Elizabeth during a visit to her dying mother in Europe. “That was a huge moment of connection,” Taylor says. “Elizabeth and Paige have that same fire and passion for the causes they fight for. I think they could both learn to understand where the other is coming from."

Paige’s predicament fits into a season focused on “what home is and where home is and what that means to the different characters,” executive producer Joe Weisberg says. “The kids are integral. This show, in many ways, is about a family and a family lie.”

High school senior Taylor, 18, enjoying her first TV series role after a 22-month stint in the Broadway musical, Billy Elliott, can relate to Paige in some ways.

“Paige represents that curiosity, that touch of rebellion, everything that comes with being a teenager,“ she says.

At the same time, the actress, who attends public school in New Jersey when she’s not filming in New York, has not experienced Paige’s alienation.

“I’ve always had such a solid structure in my house, and my parents have always supported me with everything, so I can’t relate much to her sense of abandonment,” she says.

Like Paige, Taylor has a brother, but he’s older, not younger. And she says her brother Philip, who served four years in the Marines, “is usually the one that makes me food.”

Casting young actors with short résumés can be tricky, but producers say it paid off with Taylor. “Holly works incredibly hard. She’s always prepared, and she just has a gift,” executive producer Joel Fields says. “She found a way to take everything we write and make it true.”