Matthew Rhys has long been a fixture in the world of prestige television, but his recent turn in Netflix’s The Beast in Me has reignited praise for his uncanny ability to portray men teetering on the edge of morality. Released in late 2025, the psychological thriller has become what Collider calls a “reminder of how magnetic he is when playing men who are intense, dangerous, and constantly walking the line of moral grayness.” As fans and critics alike dissect his latest enigmatic character, Nile Jarvis, many are finding themselves drawn back to the role that made Rhys a household name: Philip Jennings, the conflicted KGB spy at the heart of FX’s acclaimed drama The Americans.
The Beast in Me wastes no time establishing itself as a cut above the typical thriller. According to The Spectator, it’s “addictive and unusually satisfying,” not least because it refuses to offer easy answers or cardboard characters. Claire Danes leads as Aggie Wiggs, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose life on Long Island is haunted by grief and creative paralysis. Her son’s death, the result of a tragic accident involving a neighbor named Teddy, has left her emotionally raw and obsessed with blame. Aggie’s ex-wife Shelley, played with quiet depth by Natalie Morales, is a steady presence amid the chaos, but it’s the arrival of Rhys’s Nile Jarvis—an enigmatic billionaire developer with a shadowy past—that pushes the series into riveting new territory.
Jarvis is the kind of neighbor who raises eyebrows and hackles in equal measure. His first wife vanished under mysterious circumstances, leaving behind only a suicide note and a trail of unanswered questions. Is he a misunderstood victim of rumor, or something far more sinister? As The Spectator notes, “At first, you think he must be the former. How else do you explain this behaviour: he wants to get all his neighbours to agree to his building a concrete jogging track round their woods.” But the show’s creator, Gabe Rotter, ensures that nothing is so straightforward. Over the course of eight tightly plotted episodes, viewers are kept guessing, as the battle of wits between Aggie and Jarvis evolves into a psychological duel that’s as tense as it is unpredictable.
Rhys’s performance as Nile Jarvis is a masterclass in ambiguity, drawing on the same skills that made his portrayal of Philip Jennings so compelling. In The Americans, which ran for six seasons from 2013 to 2018, Rhys played a Soviet spy posing as a suburban American father during the height of the Cold War. The series, created by Joe Weisberg and featuring a powerhouse cast including Keri Russell as his wife Elizabeth, was lauded for its complex exploration of identity, loyalty, and the moral costs of espionage. As Collider puts it, “The true power [of the show] came from its portrait of a marriage under extraordinary pressure.” Rhys and Russell’s on-screen chemistry—now echoed in their real-life partnership—brought an authenticity and emotional charge that elevated the series above the standard spy drama.
Philip Jennings is, by any measure, Rhys’s most career-defining role. He’s a man caught between two worlds: the ruthless demands of his KGB handlers and the allure of American domesticity. He makes dad jokes, befriends his FBI neighbor Stan (Noah Emmerich), and yearns for a normal life, even as he’s capable of chilling violence and deception. The psychological strain of his double life is palpable, with Rhys capturing the character’s unraveling in a way that’s both subtle and devastating. “For an actor, the role ‘ticks every box as a… it has everything,’” Rhys told Collider in 2013, reflecting on the opportunity to oscillate between lethal operative and loving father, often within the same episode.
The show’s writing, credited to talents like Melissa James Gibson, Stuart Zicherman, and Hilary Bettis, gave Rhys and Russell a rich canvas on which to explore the nuances of a marriage built on lies but sustained by genuine connection. The series is now widely regarded as not just one of the best spy dramas, but one of the most emotionally sophisticated TV dramas of the past decade. Rhys’s Emmy win for his performance is cited by Collider as recognition of “the brilliance of his work,” but many argue that the true impact of his portrayal can’t be measured in awards alone.
In The Beast in Me, Rhys channels much of that same emotional complexity. His Jarvis is both charming and unsettling, a man whose every gesture and inflection invites suspicion. The dynamic with Danes’s Aggie is electric—a “duel between a mongoose and a cobra,” as The Spectator memorably describes it. The show avoids the genre’s usual pitfalls, giving even minor characters room to breathe and surprising viewers with ingenious, plausible twists. As the series nears its conclusion, the tension between Aggie’s search for truth and Jarvis’s inscrutability keeps audiences guessing, never quite sure who, if anyone, can be trusted.
While the structure and suspense of The Beast in Me are enough to satisfy even the most jaded thriller fans, it’s the performances that linger. Claire Danes delivers a refreshingly unsentimental take on grief and ambition, while Rhys’s layered portrayal of Jarvis cements his reputation as one of television’s most versatile actors. “What keeps you enthralled above all is the riveting battle of wits between Aggie and Jarvis,” writes The Spectator.
For those who want to revisit Rhys’s earlier triumphs, all six seasons of The Americans are currently available to stream on Hulu. The show’s legacy endures not just because of its intricate plotting or period detail, but because of the emotional truth at its core—a truth embodied in Rhys’s unforgettable performance as Philip Jennings. As Collider notes, “The Americans remains the clearest showcase of his range, offering a devastating portrayal of a man who no longer knows where his lies end and his real self begins.”
With The Beast in Me, Rhys proves that his ability to inhabit morally ambiguous, richly drawn characters is as strong as ever. Whether he’s a Soviet spy navigating the perils of Cold War America or a billionaire neighbor with secrets to hide, Matthew Rhys continues to captivate audiences—reminding us that the most compelling stories are those that explore the shadows within us all.
