When you think of the best crime shows of the last decade, I’m sure one of the first that comes to mind is probably The Blacklist. One of the more memorable characters on that series was Aram Mojtabai, played by Amir Arison for nine seasons. While The Blacklist has come to a close on NBC, Arison has moved on to his next TV role on streaming… which also happens to be law enforcement, and he was not expecting that.

Dope Thief is a new Apple TV+ series that hit the 2025 TV schedule on March 14. Created by Peter Craig, sees Arison as Mark Nader, a DEA supervisor who has been assigned to track down Ray (Brian Tyree Henry). Prior to the show's first two episodes dropping on streaming, I asked Arison if he ever expected to go from one role in the government to the next after such a significant role in a network TV show like The Blacklist.

The actor was honest and said that he didn’t expect it, but said it was like “graduating” from his role in The Blacklist:

The Dope Thief star continued, saying that it almost felt “right” to step into the role, considering Mark is the complete opposite of who Aram was. So, despite some general commonalities, it was a real treat to play someone different:

Arison isn’t joking when he says that Mark is quite literally the opposite of Aram. The character always felt like sort of a light in the darkness of The Blacklist pretty consistently, and Mark, on Dope Thief, is certainly not that. He is the definition of “no-nonsense” and will pretty much do anything to get that.

But it’s still great to see him back in a role like this. The actor actually left The Blacklist after nine seasons in order to take part in a Broadway production, so we didn’t get to see him in Season 10. He only appeared as a guest, and ultimately became one of the many Blacklist cast members who left the show over the years. Seeing Amir Arison now playing another law enforcer should just be the icing on the cake for those who came from his network TV show and are checking out his new streaming follow-up.

Dope Thief certainly puts him to the test in terms of intensity, and it’s a wild ride from beginning to end. It’s undoubtedly become a show that I look forward to each week. So, if you’re looking to see Arison in this new DEA role, then check out Dope Thief with an Apple TV+ subscription.

The following contains major spoilers for The Blacklist.

It’s been just over a year since the final episodes of The Blacklist debuted, but it’s only been a few months since I finished a massive binge of the entire 10-season series. While I have already written about the fact that The Blacklist’s biggest mystery is no mystery at all, that doesn’t mean that the show ended for me with no open questions. I have several, and most of them have to do not with how The Blacklist ended, but with how it might have ended.

A lot of people have issues with the way The Blacklist ended for Raymond Reddington. It was a somewhat anti-climactic finale for a character who seemed capable of anything. But I’m not thinking just of how things could have ended for Red, but how things could have ended for Elizabeth Keen if The Blacklist had ended two years earlier.

Season 8 Of The Blacklist Was A Major Endpoint, Even Though The Series Continued

The Blacklist was officially renewed for Season 9 in January 2021, just after Season 8 premiered. This means the showrunner and the writers knew for most of the season, and almost certainly before the final episodes of Season 8 were written, that the show would need to go on.

However, they also knew the show would go on without one of its major characters. Megan Boone, who had played The Blacklist’s co-lead, FBI Agent Elizabeth Keene, had reportedly given her notice long before the show’s renewal that Season 8 would be her last. This meant that season would be an end for a major character, and the show would need to figure out how to go on without her.

Boone’s exit would be followed by The Blacklist creator Jon Bokencamp deciding to step down as showrunner. While he would remain as an executive producer, he was no longer managing the day-to-day of the series. Whatever story he had been telling ended with Liz’s death.

Seasons 9 And 10 Of The Blacklist Almost Feel Like A Different Show

After Elizabeth Keene is killed off in the literal final moments of Season 8, Season 9 picks up two years later. Raymond Reddington is in the wind, and the task force that existed to capture criminals that he informed the FBI about had been disbanded. The various characters we’d come to love are in very different places in their lives. They've moved on.

In many ways, the final two seasons of The Blacklist don’t feel like they followed almost immediately from what came before them. They feel like a modern “legacy sequel.” When a movie sequel or a new season of a TV series follows decades after the original, the new story often accepts the passage of time and picks up after a great deal has happened off-screen. That’s what the final two seasons of The Blacklist do.

While it’s difficult to argue that the final two seasons of The Blacklist are as good as what came before, I don’t dislike them. They’re fine for what they are, but this jump forward in time to separate the last two seasons from the previous eight only reinforces the idea that the real story had ended.

I have a lot of opinions about The Blacklist, but the cynic in me feels like fans were robbed of the real ending of The Blacklist due to the curse of a successful TV show. Few who have a hit series ever want to see it end, and we know that sometimes that need to keep the story going impacts the storytelling. The show feels like it was supposed to end after Season 8, but if it had, would it have ended the same way?

How Would The Blacklist Have Ended If Season 8 Had Been The Last? 

What if there had been no Seasons 9 and 10 of The Blacklist? What if the show had the total freedom that comes with ending a story at that point? Would we have gotten a different ending?

It seems almost impossible to believe that The Blacklist would have ended as it did if with the episode where Liz died had been the final episode of the series. Ending as it did two years later, with a rather anti-climactic fate for Red, is one thing, but ending on a heartbreaker, with no resolution at all, seems, while certainly not impossible, highly unlikely.

But then, if that wasn’t how things would have ended, then what would have happened? Would the plan that Liz and Red had have been completed as they had devised? Such an ending certainly wouldn’t have been happy, but it would have been an ending.

Perhaps The Blacklist Could Have Ended The Way red Wanted It To End

Imagine that Liz shoots and kills Red. She’s heartbroken in doing it, but Red is strangely at peace with it. In a final scene, Dembe gives Liz the letter that Red had promised her, and it reveals what we as the audience already knows: that Red was not Liz’s father, as she had previously believed, but her mother, Katarina Rostova, having transformed herself into the concierge of crime in order to make sure her family was safe.

Now, in her death, she has completed that mission. Liz is now the head of Raymond Redington’s criminal empire, having killed the man that so many others had tried and failed to assassinate. From that position, Liz is as close to untouchable by the criminal underworld as possible, both Liza and her daughter will now be safe.

This is just one possibility of how things could have ended, of course. It assumes that every episode of Season 8 would have still happened as written, save the very end. Had the show planned for Season 8 to be the end from the beginning, the entire season could have been drastically different.

Perhaps we could have seen a season that progressed not unlike Season 10 eventually did, with Red using the task force to systematically dismantle his empire for him, in a way that prevents anybody else from taking it but also protects all the people who supported Red for all these years. But in this version, he does this with Liz by his side, free of the past. Perhaps the family could have had something like a happy ending. It’s unlikely, but that’s the beauty of considering these scenarios. Theoretically, if things had gone differently, anything could have happened.

The fall premieres of the 2024 TV schedule are coming up in the 2024 TV schedule, and that includes the return of NBC's Law & Order Thursdays. That lineup will be different starting this fall, though, with Organized Crime no longer airing after SVU and Law & Order. Fortunately, some exciting casting news feels like a step in the right direction for NBC's new lineup on Thursdays, and not just because it's bringing back an alum of not one but two of the network's hit shows. Fans, prepare to welcome The Blacklist and New Amsterdam alum Ryan Eggold to Law & Order!

Ryan Eggold is slated to appear in a Season 24 episode as a guest star with a personal connection to Detective Vince Riley, according to TVLine. Named Matt Riley, the character is the detective's brother. No further details are available about what the brothers' dynamic will be like at the time of writing, but after Riley's personal life didn't get a ton of attention when Reid Scott joined the cast for Season 23, I'm looking forward to getting to see his interactions with his brother. Plus, Eggold had a long tenure on NBC after his role on The Blacklist, the short-lived Blacklist spinoff, and then five seasons of New Amsterdam. It could be fun to see him back!

That's also not the only casting news for the upcoming season of Law & Order, and all three are what make me optimistic about Law & Order Thursdays continuing with just two L&O shows. Mariska Hargitay, a.k.a. the face of the franchise after 25 seasons and counting as SVU's Olivia Benson, will cross over to Law & Order for an October episode. Given that the shows don't return to NBC this fall until October, that means Benson will appear fairly early in L&O's new season. SVU's Elizabeth Marvel will appear in the same episode as Defense Attorney Rita Calhoun.

And while I doubt that this casting news means that the Law & Order team is making a concerted effort to change after Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 was renewed for Peacock Premium subscribers rather than NBC, delving into one character's family life as well as tying a story to SVU sounds like the makings of a more cohesive L&O world on Thursdays starting this fall. Previously, OC would be the show most likely to crossover with SVU and/or deliver brother drama. It's hard not to be encouraged by the original series trying some new things this season. I was optimistic about that way back in April after a particularly eventful episode, and I'm still optimistic about it now.

Of course, we'll have to wait and see if Law & Order and SVU are more closely tied in the 2024-2025 TV season or not, not to mention if there's a future for Ryan Eggold on the show beyond just one guest appearance. Whatever happens, there's plenty to look forward to on Thursdays even without three solid hours of Wolf Entertainment action.

Mark-Paul Gosselaar's Found will air in the 10 p.m. ET slot formerly filled by Christopher Meloni's Organized Crime, and it's hard for me to imagine a more thrilling NBC replacement. If you're unconvinced – or just didn't check out Found's first season in the spring – you can find every episode so far streaming with a Peacock subscription, as well as the most recent season of Law & Order.

The following contains spoilers for The Blacklist.

One of the great things about the era of streaming is the way you can just hunker down and watch every episode of a TV series. Of course, when the show you choose to watch has 10 seasons, it takes up your free time for quite some time. Such was the case as I spent the last few months binging all 10 seasons of The Blacklist. 

I had watched the first few seasons of The Blacklist before, but I'd fallen away from the show. Recently, I decided to start at the beginning and complete the series. It's one heck of a ride. Here's a look at what was going through my head while I was on it. 

The First Scene Of The Pilot Is One Of The Best Television Openings Ever

A brand new TV show needs to grab you from the first scene or you may give up and never go back. The Blacklist has an all-time opening scene, when James Spader's Raymond Reddington casually walks into the FBI, gives them his name, and then "assumes the position" before they even realize that one of the FBI's most wanted just gave himself up.

I Wish I Looked As Good In A Suit As Raymond Reddington

James Spader always looks like he's having a blast playing Raymond Redington but the best part has to be wardrobe. I love a good three-piece suit, and so does Red. I just wish I could pull off the look half as well.

Addressing The "Father" Question Early In Season 1 Is Brilliant

The relationship between Raymond Reddington and Elizabeth Keen is what The Blacklist is all about. It's clear that she means something to him, and since we learn early on that Liz was adopted, the idea that Red might be her dad is an obvious conclusion to draw. But midway through Season 1, he says that's not true. He's not lying. The show could have left this question open longer, but addressing it makes the mystery much more interesting by taking the obvious answer off the table.

Wow, She Seriously Shot The Attorney General In The Head!

There are several moments in The Blacklist where the show goes the unexpected way. One of the biggest is at the end of Season 2. Liz is facing down with the U.S. Attorney General, who is a member of the sinister "Cabal." He's a villain, Liz knows he is, and she knows she can't prove it. Liz has a choice, kill him, or get arrested and likely end up dead. You'd think our "hero" would stop short of killing a man in cold blood. Not so much.

Everytime You Start To Like Red, The Blacklist Reminds You He's A Monster

Raymond Reddington is a charismatic criminal and thus it's easy for the audience to like him. He's a fun guy who lives by few rules. Red has a personal code, which means there are lines he will not cross when it comes to committing his criminal acts. But make no mistake, Red isn't a nice guy and The Blacklist never shies away from that. Red kills a lot of people, including many who do everything he asks of them, simply because they cross him.

The Blacklist Totally Stole A Plot Detail From L.A. Confidential

In Season 3 of The Blacklist  Agent Ressler figures out that Laurel Hitchens is part of the "Cabal" because she knows the name of Tommy Markin, a dirty cop who killed Ressler's father. I can't be the only one having deja vu as this is exactly the setup that leads Detective Exley to learn that his captain is dirty in L.A. Confidential. 

The Blacklist Is A Puzzle And The Pieces Fit Together Surprisingly Well

It's unclear if the story of Raymond Reddington was completely devised from the very beginning, or if it all came together later. What is clear is that The Blacklist took great pains to make sure that every puzzle piece that was introduced had a place to fit. It's not all perfect, but nothing is a blatant contradiction and there are no retcons needed. For a show that lasted over 200 episodes that's impressive.

Are Any Of Red's Stories Actually True?

Raymond Reddington does a lot on The Blacklist but it's nothing compared to what he claims to have done in various stories he tells throughout the series. He's seemingly been everywhere in the world and done everything you can dream of. Of course, we know that Reddington lies, so are any of these stories actually true? 

One Line Of Dialogue Sums Up The Entire Show

In Raymond Reddington's first conversation with Elizabeth Keen, he tells the new FBI agent not to trust him because he's a criminal, and criminals lie. Then he drops the most important single line of dialogue in the show. "Everything about me is a lie." There's no way to know at that moment just how true the line is, but looking back, it's incredible. 

Red's Pilot Is An Amazing Cameo

Here's a fun piece of trivia. James Spader's Pretty in Pink co-star, Brat Pack member Andrew McCarthy, is an accomplished director who directed 26 episodes of The Blacklist over the 10-year run. In one of the show's final episodes, we finally got to see Edward, the pilot of Red's private plane, and the role was played by McCarthy.

The Blacklist Does A Fantastic Job Of Keeping The Story Moving

A show like The Blacklist which is based on a mystery can become a chore if viewers aren't given answers. The show is remarkably good at keeping things moving. Rarely is there a question that goes more than a few episodes without an answer. It's just that the answer leads to a new question. It's incredibly well-paced, especially for binge-watching now.

Liz & Tom Win The Award For The Strangest Relationship Ever

Look, we can't always control who we fall in love with but falling in love with a guy who is actually a spy sent to watch you, only to discover he's a spy, shoot him, kidnap and torture him, and then fall in love with him again, is a choice.

Mr. Kaplan Has An Incredible Story Inside The Blacklist

There are several compelling supporting characters on The Blacklist, but my favorite has to be Mr. Kaplan. She has an incredible story that goes as deep as Red's own and continues to surprise as the show goes on. She even becomes the show's main antagonist for a while, making her the most sympathetic villain on the show. 

Why Did The Blacklist Assume Everybody Watched The Spinoff?

I had forgotten there was a one-season Blacklist spinoff, called Blacklist: Redemption. Some important revelations take place in the spinoff that are never discussed in the main show. For a second I thought I missed an episode.

Nobody Is Safe On The Blacklist

While most of the core cast of The Blacklist survive from the beginning to the end, there are several surprising deaths throughout the series. Most of the characters who leave the series do so in a pine box, including some of the most important characters on the show. 

Why Doesn't Liz Get Any Better At Being A Field Agent?

Elizabeth Keen was trained as an FBI profiler. She expected to spend her career in an office, so I get that she's maybe not the best field agent at the beginning of the show. But in nearly every physical altercation with a suspect over eight seasons, Liz gets her butt kicked. You'd think after a few years she'd be better at this.

The Blacklist Bones Reveal Is An Epic Cliffhanger, Even Though I Called It

I predicted what the identity of Red's bones would ultimately be, but that didn't change the bombshell that the actual reveal moment was. It completely changes the way you look at the entire series to that point, which is something few shows pull off.

What Did Naomi Hyland Know?

In Season 2 we meet Naomi Hyland, Raymond Redington's ex-wife. When the show eventually reveals the truth behind Red, it's implied that Naomi knew the truth the whole time, but it's never really explained exactly what her part in all this was, what she knew, or why she went along with it all.

What Happened To The Gold?

Late in The Blacklist, we meet Robert Vesco, the mentor of Raymond Reddington. Vesco is a con man who, the first time we meet him, cons Red out of his share of millions in gold they stole together. The next time we see him, Red wants his share, but he never gets it. It's unclear if Vesco ever paid up.

Dembe Is The True Hero Of The Blacklist

Red and Liz may be the main characters of The Blacklist, and Reddington is certainly the protagonist, the character whose growth and change is most important, but the hero of The Blacklist is Dembe Zuma. A fiercely loyal man who always tries to do what's right, though he accepts sometimes doing what's right means doing what's wrong. 

By Season 6 They Were Out Of Villain Names Weren't They?

The conceit behind The Blacklist is that the criminals the task force chases after are so secret, the FBI doesn't know they exist. As such many of them go by nicknames. In the first few seasons, these were cool names like The Kingmaker, Lord Baltimore, and The Apothecary. As the show wore on, however, they seemed to run out of names. We got The Pawnbrokers, The Hawalander, and The Fribourg Confidence.

Redding Representing Himself Is Giving Me Boston Legal Vibes

In Season 6 Red is arrested and goes on trial for treason. It's a fitting place for James Spader to be considering he spent most of the decade before The Blacklist playing attorney Alan Shore on two series, The Practice, and Boston Legal. He brings some of that same energy to his trial scenes here and it's glorious. 

Ressler's Backstory Makes So Much Sense

Agent Ressler is the task force's straight arrow. He's the "by the book" guy that every team of cops needs. Of course, throughout the series, like all his colleagues, the lines between right and wrong get blurry. A character like this is a trope, but when we learn Ressler's backstory, it explains everything. Ressler wasn't always so honest, which explains why it was so easy for him to bend the rules when given the chance. 

The Animated Episode Was A Necessary Band-Aid, But Finishing It Later Would Have Been Nice

When the global pandemic hit, The Blacklist was only about 1/3 of the way through filming the episode that would end up being its last of the season. The show worked quickly, turning to a pre-vis animation house to fill in the gaps so the episode would work as a season finale. The animation is rough, as the speed with which was needed certainly required, but considering how popular The Blacklist is streaming, going back to finish filming, or at least improving the animation, would have been nice.

Liz Going Full Supervillain In Season 8 Is Frustrating, But It's In Character

Season 8 turns the tables in a big way by making Liz the villain for most of the season. It's potentially frustrating to see one of the show's heroes make some pretty big assumptions and refuse to listen to reason when she goes bad, but when has that ever stopped Liz? She was always a character who acted rashly and emotionally, so while it's frustrating to see her make some bad decisions, it makes perfect sense. 

The Death Of Glen Was Ridiculous And Beautiful

Of all the characters Red works with, Glen, the DMV supervisor who is also an excellent tracker, is one of the best. Unfortunately, actor Clark Middleton passed away while the show was on the air. Rather than simply leave the character behind, The Blacklist sees Glen pass away, of the same West Nile Virus that took the actor. It's a tribute that is quite touching, and also, like Glen, more than a bit silly. 

How Much Of Raymond Reddington's Life Has He Spent Sitting In Dark Rooms Waiting For People To Get Home?

Over the course of ten years, there are numerous scenes where somebody comes home to discover Raymond Reddington sitting comfortably waiting for them. Unless he knew exactly when they were coming home and timed things perfectly you have to assume Red has spent hours, maybe days of his life just sitting in living rooms waiting. Does he bring a book? Maybe a crossword puzzle?

The Reddington Reveal Is A Work Of Art

The fact that some people aren't sure The Blacklist ever answered the question of who is Raymond Reddington is proof that it was handled perfectly. The answer is there, but a definitive statement is never spoken. It's obvious if you're ready for it, and it's incredibly satisfying.

Would Season 8 Have Ended Differently If There Hadn't Been A Season 9?

In many ways, the end of Season 8 feels like the real end of The Blacklist. At the same time, the ending is a cliffhanger and quite a downer for anybody who has grown to love these characters. It makes one wonder if the same ending would have happened if the show hadn't already been renewed for another season. 

Season 9 And 10 Feel Like The Show Went Off The Air For A Decade, Even When You Binge Watch It

Season 9 of The Blacklist takes place two years after the end of Season 8. If you binge-watch the show, one episode follows the other in quick succession. And yet, the final two seasons of the show feel like the show was rebooted a decade later. It makes the last seasons feel like they're almost a different show.

Aram Deserved A Better Send Off

Aram Mojtabai is a member of the task force whose role starts small but he becomes a vital member of the team and an incredibly wonderful character. He gets an unusually happy ending, in that he doesn't get killed off, but he also has a pretty unceremonious send-off. Aram decides to leave at the end of Season 9, but then he cameos in the opening of Season 10. You get the impression that maybe he'll be back, but he never is. 

The Ending Is Anti-Climactic, But I'm Not Sure Any Ending Would Have Been Enough

Every show has to end eventually, and The Blacklist does after 10 seasons. The show does get a definitive conclusion, which is nice. Reddington's fate is probably a somewhat frustrating ending for most people, myself included. But then, I'm not sure how a show this epic was ever going to end in a way that would have made everybody happy. 

The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for all 10 seasons of The Blacklist

Being a big fan of James Spader when he was on Boston Legal, I was quite excited when he started a brand new series over a decade ago, The Blacklist. Put Spader in a suit and let him mug for the camera, and I'm there. I watched the show's first three seasons and really enjoyed them, but after Season 3, I ended up cutting the cord on my satellite TV, and I fell out of watching many of my favorite shows regularly, including The Blacklist.

But then earlier this year, the tenth and final season of The Blacklist arrived on Netflix. It took me a while to get around to it, but after so many years, I had forgotten many of the details of the show I had seen. So my wife and I started at the beginning and for about three straight months watched every Blacklist episode.

On the whole, I think the show is fantastic, but there is one part that has become one of my favorite TV moments ever. The solution to the mystery of Raymond Reddington's identity is a masterstroke. This made me very confused when, looking over articles from the time of the episode, as well as many more recent comments about the show, it seems many believe The Blacklist never resolved one major mystery that seemed pretty clearly answered to me.

The Real Identity Of Raymond Redington Was A Major Blacklist Mystery 

The broader storyline of The Blacklist Season 5 was primarily concerned with the identity of a set of human remains. FBI informant and “Concierge of Crime” Raymond “Red” Reddington had been in possession of them, but he lost them in a power struggle with his associate Mr. Kaplan.

Red insists the bones are his property and that their identity is his business and nobody else’s. Following a long drawn-out fight which results in the death of the husband of FBI Agent Elizabeth Keen, our show’s other main character, who believes at this point she is Red’s daughter, we discover the truth. The bones belong to Raymond Reddington, meaning the man using that name for the entirety of the series is somebody else.

As the show progresses from there, we learn important details. The person claiming to be Red had extensive plastic surgery. Also, a woman almost certainly Liz’s biological mother whom she never knew, KGB Agent Katarina Rostova, was aware of the person’s transformation and intimately involved in making it happen.

How Liz's mother could assist in covering up the death of Liz's father is just one of the difficult questions to answer as Liz Keen goes rogue. She comes to believe Red is a Russian spy and ultimately decides to turn herself into a criminal in order to expose his real identity.

The Blacklist Reveals Red's Identity Clearly, It Just Never Says The Words 

For the next three seasons following the bones' identity being revealed, the identity of the man calling himself Raymond Reddington becomes the broader plot outside of the weekly criminal takedown on The Blacklist. At various points, we think we know the answer. Liz’s grandfather, whom she didn’t know she had, reveals that Red is a former KGB agent called Ilia Koslov, but we learn later that Grandpa lied. Then, a woman claiming to be Liz’s dead mother, Katarina Rostova, turns up, but she is as in the dark about Red's identity as anybody, and ultimately it turns out she’s not who she claims to be either.

We learn that the real Raymond Reddington had been framed by “The Cabal,” the organization Red and the FBI took on early in the series, so that he looked like a traitor and would be unable to reveal the group's existence. Part of that frame-up involved putting a lot of money in Red’s name, so when Liz’s mother runs afoul of the same group, she and her friend Koslov decide to impersonate Red to get the cash.

In Season 8, however, what is arguably the true end of the series, with the final two seasons acting as a sort of post-script, answers are given. The penultimate episode, “Nachalo,” is largely an episode in which Red reveals the truth to Elizabeth. We learn that not only did Katarina take Red’s money, she took his name. She took the man who was believed to be a traitor to his country and built a mythology around him. She bought and sold information and built a network that became the foundation for the Blacklist, Red’s list of criminals that the FBI spends the show taking down.

Why does a KGB agent who is already skilled in espionage take on the name of someone else to do this? Part of it is to protect herself, and her daughter. It turns out Katarina is the Russian spy that Liz believed the false Reddington to be, and people want Katarina dead for this. They may try to hurt Liz to get to her, but turning Raymond Reddington into the king of the criminal world means the resources to protect Liz will be available. The other reason to become Red is in the song that plays during a montage where we see Katarina, begin her work as Red, but never see her face: James Brown’s “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World.”

The Final Scene Of Season 8 Tells The Story

The final confirmation, however, comes in the final moments of Season 8. Raymond Reddington wants Liz to take over his empire to control The Blacklist, but he believes the only way she can do that, and look strong in the eyes of the criminals she will be working with, is to kill Reddington. The two work out a plan to do just that. Red’s incentive is a letter that reveals his identity. He won’t show her the letter beforehand because he thinks if she knows the truth, she won’t go through with it.

In the final moment, however, Liz can’t pull the trigger. We learn later it’s because she has seen the letter and already knows the truth. But then a different gun is fired. A man shoots Liz in the back, a punishment to Raymond Reddington for his previous transgressions.

As Liz falls to the ground, Red grabs for her. He cradles her as she falls and begins to bleed out. We get a “life flashing before your eyes” montage. At first, it's from Liz's perspective. We see Liz and her husband, happy. We see Liz and her daughter, smiling. Then we see Liz and Red, the happy times the two have shared over the past several years.

But as Liz's life begins to fade, the perspective clearly shifts. The scene's focus shifts from Liz's thoughts to Red's feelings as the woman he cares for dies before him. We’re no longer seeing through Liz’s eyes, but Red’s. The montage continues with images of Red holding a dying Liz intercut with Katarina Rostova holding a young Liz. We see Katarina kiss her new baby. Then we see Red lay a kiss on Liz's head for the final time. We know that Liz doesn’t remember her mother. These memories are not hers. The shots are either from the perspective of Red or the perspective of Katarina; the truth by way of the Kulashov Effect. These are Red’s memories because Raymond Reddington has always been Katarina Rostova.

Many Fans Seem To Still Be Confused About The Solution

It is true, as far as it goes, that The Blacklist never gives the answer to the question in a straightforward way. At no point does Reddington say “I was born Katarina Rostova.” This has seemingly led to a great deal of confusion among many who watched The Blacklist. Some are still asking the question “Who was Raymond Reddington?” Many of them, it should be pointed out, do understand what the show seemed to say, but the lack of a declarative statement still makes them wonder if they understood properly.

Maybe that's why two seasons later The Blacklist would offer one final hint. In Red's final conversation with Agnes, the now-preteen daughter of Liz. Red offers the young girl some advice on how to deal with boys. Agnes remarks that "Pinky," as she calls him, sounds like "such a mom." Red's response: "I guess I just can't help it."

While not giving a simple reveal to the answer does, technically, leave things open to interpretation, the fact is that the show very clearly tells you what the answer is as long as you're watching and listening.

This revelation wasn’t a shock to everybody. It’s clear from looking at old articles and posts that many suspected that exactly this twist would come. Red clearly had a parent’s love for Liz, but he always insisted, from the very first season, that he wasn’t her father because he was her mother.

No, The Blacklist never hands you this answer, but that’s part of the reason it works so well and why I loved the reveal so much. It lets you come to it at your own speed. The show doesn't give you the answer because it lets you discover the answer yourself. You get to solve the mystery of Raymond Reddington.

A new week means a new week of streaming material arriving on your TV. While you might have that weekly show that arrives on a schedule like the way we all used to do it, odds are stronger that your next favorite series or movie is going to arrive in a flash without you even realizing it. So how do you figure out what to watch and when to watch it? Well, we try to cut through the mass of content to find the titles worth watching, or at least worth trying. 

Maybe it's because February is a short month, but it seems like the streaming platforms are trying to cram a lot of great content in early. From intriguing true crime documentaries for Paramount+ subscribers to the newest big-screen entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe on Disney+ to one of the first big Sundance Film Festival hits arriving for Hulu subscribers, there’s a lot of great stuff to watch this week.

What's Coming To Netflix

Dee & Friends In Oz - Feburary 2

With the absolutely massive quantity of content available on many streamers, it can be difficult to decide just what you want to let your younger kids watch. Netflix is bringing a new player to the table in a new series for the toddler set called Dee & Friends in Oz. The show reimagines the classic Wizard of Oz characters as very young children, and D, the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion go on numerous adventures in Oz that are sure to be designed to teach kids important lessons.  

The Blacklist Season 10 - February 11

The Blacklist has been a popular show on NBC and, while the 10th and final season completed its run on NBC some time ago, there are certainly a lot of cord-cutters who have yet to see it. The series -- which follows James Spader as Raymond Reddington, a master criminal who decides to go to work with the FBI to capture the worst of his former associates -- will see its final season arrive for Netflix subscribers on February 11. This will make the entire series available on the platform for anybody who wants to check it out for the first time or to start over from the beginning.  

What's Coming To Disney+

The Marvels - February 7

Disney+ is the home of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and now, with the most recent cinematic outing, The Marvels, arriving on the service, the only MCU project not available to view is Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home, which we expect will be available at some point. The Marvels struggled at the box office, and many suggested that fans were waiting for streaming. If that’s the case a lot of Disney+ subscribers will be very happy The Marvels is coming. 

Assembled: The Making Of The Marvels - February 7

Whether you saw The Marvels in theaters or are waiting for streaming, once you’ve seen it, then you may want to get a peek behind the scenes. Marvel’s Assembled series of MCU documentaries releases its episode about the Captain Marvel sequel the same day the movie arrives on Disney+.  

What's Coming To Hulu

Suncoast - February 9

Suncoast debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it received strong word of mouth in regard to its lead performances. Nico Parker stars as a teenager trying to navigate her already-complicated life while also dealing with a brother being placed in a facility due to severe disability. There she meets a man, played by Woody Harrelson, and the pair start an unlikely friendship. 

10 Things I Hate About You/Romeo + Juliet

February 8 will be an interesting day on Hulu, as two modern classics that have little in common but are still related will hit the streamer at the same time. If you're interested in putting together a double feature of modern Shakespeare adaptations, then you're in luck. 10 Things I Hate About You (the excellent movie that reimagines The Taming of the Shrew as a teen rom-com) as well as Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet, which sets the tragic love story in the modern day but retains the original text, will be available.

What's Coming To Paramount+

#Cybersleuths: The Idaho Murders - February 6

The deaths of four college students in Idaho in 2022 captured national attention, as did the fact that, for a long time, police didn’t seem to have any leads in the brutal case. This led to one of the first major cases in which amateur detectives used Google searches and social media to solve a crime. While the “cybersleuths” didn’t end up solving the case themselves, it will certainly be interesting to see their point of view in the situation. Ultimately, #Cybersleuths: The Idaho Murders is another true crime documentary, but there’s a reason so many of them exist. People love them, and this is sure to draw eyes as well. 

Halo Season 2 - February 8

For years, fans of the Halo video game franchise sat and waited, as numerous attempts to turn the sci-fi shooter into a movie were attempted and failed. The IP finally came to life with Season 1 of the TV series on Paramount+ and now, almost two years later, Season 2 is finally here. The show has used the game as inspiration but has largely told its own story, so it’s anybody’s guess as to where Season 2 will take the fight.  

What's Coming To Peacock

Couple to Throuple - February 8

At some point, we will hit “peak reality show” and no subject will have been left off the table but, until then, the reality TV arms race to push the envelope continues. Peacock will try its hand with Couple to Throuple, which sees four couples test their relationships by adding a third. Polyamory isn’t for everybody, so we can expect lots of relationship drama. It’s probably not a show for everybody either, but it’s probably the perfect series for a number of viewers.

As per usual, this list only scratches the surface of what’s coming to streaming this week. Be sure to check out everything new on Netflix and everything coming to Disney+ for a complete schedule of upcoming shows and movies arriving on said platforms.

It may be hard to believe, but it’s been six months since The Blacklist’s shocking and tear-jerking finale twist. The NBC crime thriller came to an end last July after ten seasons. It was as shocking as Blacklist viewers would expect after more than 200 episodes of Red's adventures, and fans had a lot of thoughts about the ending. Soon, any fans who didn't watch live on NBC in 2023 will be able to see that ending for themselves, and I can't wait to see how their reactions compare to those from last July. 

According to What’s On Netflix, Season 10 of The Blacklist will be dropping on the streamer on February 11, meaning that soon, fans old and new of the series will be able to watch it from start to finish, with every plot twist and action sequence in between. This will also mean that any who weren't able to watch the final season live or were waiting to binge-watch will finally be able to do so and are going to be left with a pretty surprising end. 

Spoilers ahead for the series finale of The Blacklist. 

That surprising ending involved James Spader’s Red jetting off to Spain. Unfortunately, the series’ two-hour finale did not end on a good note, as Red was killed by a bull. In true The Blacklist fashion, no one could have seen it coming, as one would think that if he were to die, it would be at the hands of an enemy or illness, not an animal.

Fans who watched the series finale had their own ideas as to how The Blacklist should have ended. Some thought the show could have not shown Red’s fate, and instead, left it up to the viewer to decide what happened. That would have given the other characters more time to wrap up their stories, and allowed viewers to think that perhaps Red survived and could show up again at some point. Since the series foreshadowed Red’s illness, that seemed a likely way he could die, if not killed by man or animal. 

Now that The Blacklist’s series finale will soon be available for many more fans to watch, it wouldn’t be surprising if there are soon more ideas about alternate endings. Series finales are often hit-or-miss; although The Blacklist could have ended differently, it has definitely given viewers something to talk about even well after the final credits rolled. End series finale spoilers.  

The Blacklist hit 200 episodes during its final season, which is a huge feat. Even amidst departing cast members and divisive finales, there was a reason that the series ran for so long and why many are still so passionate. It will be exciting to be able to watch it in full soon, especially for the fans who have been waiting to see the final season. 

Those who have yet to see the series finale of The Blacklist can watch it and judge for themselves with a Netflix subscription beginning February 11. It would also be a great time to start all over from the beginning since all seasons will finally be available, even if it means rewatching scenes that some fans may want to forget.

The Irrational arrived in primetime as one of the few new shows in the final months of the 2023 TV schedule, with former Law & Order actor Jesse L. Martin in the lead role. The show premiered just months after The Blacklist ended as one of NBC's longest-running shows, with the finale finishing the story of James Spader's Reddington after ten seasons and more than 200 episodes. John Terlesky directed many episodes of The Blacklist over the years – including the milestone 200th – before coming to The Irrational, and reflected on that experience in an interview with CinemaBlend.

John Terlesky directed eleven episodes of The Blacklist going back to 2016, and he was back with NBC by the fall for the third episode of The Irrational. Coming into a brand new show like The Irrational is of course very different from directing the 200th episode of another show, and the director shared:

John Terlesky's comments echo what fellow director Jesse Warn said about working with Jesse L. Martin and The Irrational team for Alec Mercer's life-or-death situation. Terlesky previously opened up about the perks of working on The Irrational early on to build up Martin's "rock star vibe" as Alec. But what about working on The Blacklist over the years, with James Spader playing a very different kind of character? 

The Blacklist hit 200 episodes with time to spare in Season 10, with John Terlesky directing for his eleventh and final installment of the NBC drama. Shortly before the broadcast in March, actor Stacy Keach opened up about the show getting "diabolical" with Reddington, and the episode drew on a lot of background between Red and Vesco. 

John Terlesky reflected on Episode 200 of The Blacklist, in contrast to Episode 3 of The Irrational:

The director's professional relationship with James Spader goes all the way back to Boston Legal, where he directed three episodes between 2006-2007. The Blacklist team had "a certain way" of doing things by the time they hit 200 episodes, and that way obviously worked well for the show to last as long as it did. The Irrational is well away from hitting any kind of triple-digit milestone, and Terlesky elaborated on why that's exciting:

While The Irrational is already delving into Alec's backstory and the traumatic event that left him permanently scarred, there is still a whole lot of space to explain all of the characters this early in the series. Hopefully the show is enough of a hit for NBC that it has a chance of reaching Blacklist-level success... although fans have had mixed feelings about the series finale. Personally, one powerful scene narrated by Dembe made the tear-jerker work for me!

For now, you can revisit the first nine seasons of The Blacklist streaming with a Netflix subscription, and every episode of The Irrational so far with a Peacock Premium subscription. New episodes of The Irrational with Jesse L. Martin air on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET, so be sure to tune in while the drama is still in its early days!

NBC's The Blacklist came to an end after ten seasons of mysteries, misdirects, and clues that fans could only hope would lead to a two-hour finale with some long-awaited answers. The two-parter ultimately didn't answer every question lingering from those ten seasons, and it gave James Spader's Reddington a very definitive ending. It wasn't death from sickness, despite plenty of foreshadowing that he was terminally ill, and he wasn't killed by an enemy. No, Red was killed by a bull in a field in Spain, and the result is that there are plenty of fans with different ideas of how Red's story should have ended.

The show did go above and beyond to make sure that Reddington got a pretty epic death, insofar as The Blacklist went to Spain to film the finale, which marked the first time that the show filmed outside of New York. While James Spader himself was full of compliments for how the show wrapped, the same can't be said for many fans on Reddit, who filled the post-episode discussion with ideas about how the ending could be better. User teh_maxh wrote:

I have to agree with this Reddit poster to a certain extent, as my immediate reaction to the finale on the night was that Dembe's emotional speech about Red was the key to setting up Red's farewelll... and really the only thing that reconciled me to Raymond Reddington's death happening after ten seasons because he was gored by a bull in a random field in Spain. 

Of course, open-ended finales aren't always received well by fans – just look at The Sopranos' ending – so this commenter's idea might not have been a hit with everybody, but it would have been nice to see Park and Aram again after their series regular exits at the end of Season 9. User thehornedlamb had an idea of their own:

Dembe's speech wasn't enough to reconcile this commenter to the ending, and they certainly have a point that the bull motif was a recent addition to the show rather than something that would bring Red's story full circle. I also can relate to wishing that there was some payoff to all the clues about his illness. Plus, after reading what The Blacklist cast members said about losing Megan Boone's Liz, it would have been nice to get a throwback or two to her. On Reddit, Sea_Voice_404 shared their two cents:

Ressler certainly would have discovered a less gruesome site if Red had died of natural causes instead of being gored by a bull! NBC didn't get too gruesome with what was left of Reddington, and Ressler got a poignant moment of putting Red's hat back on his head. As somebody who initially thought that Red was hallucinating the bull because he was finally on death's door due to his health issues, I wouldn't have minded him dying more peacefully! Reddit user Outrageous-Pizza-470 had a different take:

An ending similar to what happens in the video game Red Dead Redemption 2 – which released back in 2018 – sounded better to that particular Reddit user. I certainly hope that Red's final bow didn't originate as a joke among the writers! Commenter kattahn shared similar thoughts on how the bull just came out of nowhere in Season 10, writing:

For better or worse, Red's ending has been decided, and his death means that fans won't get a Red death do-over even if the day comes when The Blacklist gets a spinoff. I can imagine myself rewatching the finale up until the end of Dembe's touching speech; whether I'd watch to the end with Reddington vs. Spanish bull is a whole other question. 

You can revisit the series finale of The Blacklist streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription, as well as the first nine seasons of the series streaming via Netflix subscription. 

Paul Reubens may be best known for his work as the beloved Pee-wee Herman, but he had a long list of credits that made him a favorite for many. In the wake of the actor's passing at the age of 70, The Blacklist creator Jon Bokenkamp looked back at when Reubens came to the hit NBC drama (which ended after ten seasons this summer) and influenced the show and his own character of Mr. Vargas. 

The Pee-wee Herman star recurred on The Blacklist across the second and third seasons as Mr. Vargas, and the character was a standout from his first episode. It wasn't always clear which side Mr. Vargas was on, and he ultimately learned just what happens when you try to betray and deceive Raymond Reddington. 

Show creator Jon Bokenkamp spoke with People about working with Paul Reubens for The Blacklist, sharing that they "really created the character for Paul" and that "he was lovely enough to do it" after they came up with a "weird and exciting" idea. The idea was only the beginning, however, as Bokenkamp went on to share how the actor contributed to shaping Mr. Vargas: 

Fans of The Blacklist from the run on NBC (or streaming via a Netflix subscription) will remember that Mr. Vargas' discomfort with blood was almost immediately established as a character trait in his very first episode. The reveal added some humor to a pretty dark scene, and quickly made the Reddington/Mr. Vargas dynamic fun to watch.

Jon Bokenkamp further shared that Paul Reubens brought a cane with him to the Blacklist set in case the fake blood made him queasy, prompting the creator and writers to take "his peculiarities and worked them into the show." Bokenkamp elaborated on how Reubens contributed to the "strange look" of Mr. Vargas:

Paul Reubens turned Mr. Vargas into a memorable character rather than one who fades into the background in a show full of double agents and betrayals. Fans unfortunately only got a handful of episodes with the character before his untimely end, but Jon Bokenkamp's comments about his impact on the show are a tribute to Reubens' work on the NBC drama. The Blacklist creator went even further to credit the late actor:

Paul Reubens' death was officially announced on July 31, following a private battle with cancer. It didn't take long for fans to start sharing stories about the Pee-wee's Big Adventure actor to pay tribute to him, and he is already remembered widely for roles in addition to Pee-wee and Mr. Vargas. In fact, he played a Batman fan-favorite among other DC roles, and there's a long list of Paul Reubens Movies and TV shows to watch (or rewatch) to celebrate his life and career. 

If you want to revisit his time as Mr. Vargas on The Blacklist, you can find Season 2 and Season 3 streaming on Netflix. Our thoughts here at CinemaBlend remain with the family, friends, and loved ones of Paul Reubens in this difficult time. 

It’s a little hard to believe it was a decade ago that Jon Bokenkamp created The Blacklist for the TV schedule. At the time, we were in the middle of a wave of big names making returns to TV, and James Spader fit the bill perfectly. The former The Practice and Boston Legal star had signed on the dotted line to play Raymond ‘Red’ Reddington in what would become another career-defining role. Ten years later, the finale wrapped with a tear-jerking Reddington moment that paid off years of storytelling in spades. But should the show have ended far earlier? If you were to ask the cast, they might say they were “surprised” about what happened. 

Harry Lennix, who played Harold Cooper for a whopping 218 episodes of The Blacklist, recently opened up about the series finally wrapping. The actor gave a lot of credit to the fanbase for helping the show stick around – even sticking it out through varying timeslots, including that Friday death slot for a while. The show persevered, but the actor says that in some ways it was very surprising the NBC drama lasted as long as it did, as he told NBC:

Linear shows like The Blacklist often don’t get a decade on the air; that type of timeline is often reserved for comedies like The Big Bang Theory or Friends – which also ran for 10 seasons. Alternatively, a lot of procedural, case-of-the-week-type dramas can endure on television for lengthy runs. Think NCIS or even the recently revamped Criminal Minds. 

The Blacklist always had some commonalities in its storytelling with procedurals given the actual list of criminals that were being tracked down, but it took some of its formatting similarities and expanded into a world with complicated backstories, relationships and through-lines often driven by the “Who is Red?” question.  It was enough to give the show the gift of longevity. For Harry Lennix, this dream cast getting to work together as long as they did was “extraordinary.”

Of course some changes happened over the years. Ryan Eggold left the show for spinoff, though Redemption was canceled after only one season. Series lead Megan Boone also exited in Season 8. But a lot of the core cast, anchored by the Dembe and Red relationship in its later eps, stuck around. The fans did too. 

There’s always a debate about whether shows should simply run for the length of their initially planned storyline (that is if said show doesn’t get canceled prematurely) or if successful shows should be allowed to go on as long as they wish (even if the plots drop in quality somewhat). I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer, though I’m not one to begrudge shows that run a little too long when it’s clear the cast and creative team really love what they do and the audience is still on board.

The good news? I do think that regardless of how long it ran, The Blacklist’s ending did wrap on a fitting note, so whether or not it should have ended sooner rather than later, it’s one that will stick with me for quite some time. 

After ten seasons, The Blacklist finally came to an end on NBC on Thursday, July 13, and it was a tear-jerker of a series finale. After the show closed out with an international manhunt, stars Harry Lennix and Hisham Tawfiq reflected on their many years as Harold Cooper and Dembe, respectively. The duo opened up about their time on the show and losing their longtime co-star Megan Boone as Liz Keen.

When Megan Boone was announced to be leaving The Blacklist, it was a question of how the series would say goodbye to her beloved profiler. The decision to kill off Liz in the Season 8 finale definitely changed the series for good, and it was hard to watch how everyone struggled with the aftermath. As part of Harold Cooper’s task force, she brought a lot to the team. Harry Lennix – who played the assistant director of the FBI Counterterrorism Division – tells TV Insider just how Liz’s death affected both him as an actor and his character:

The Blacklist has lost stars over the years for different reasons, and Megan Boone’s exit was definitely hard to get through, especially since it called for the storyline to make some dramatic changes. When it was revealed that Harold and his wife took in Liz’s daughter Agnes, it was both heartfelt and heartbreaking. While Harry Lennix seems to have loved the opportunity to do that storyline for Harold, it’s clear that Boone’s absence on the show was definitely still felt.

That being said, being on a show for its entire run when that run is for ten seasons is impressive, and Harry Lennix and Hisham Tawfiq had been on the series since the beginning. However, fans will remember that Tawfiq’s Dembe Zuma wasn’t a huge part of the show for the first two seasons, and because of that and more, he’s calling his journey on the NBC drama a blessing:

After Dembe rose to become a key character, it’s clear Hisham Tawfiq is grateful for the long ride that he had on The Blacklist. Going from recurring to series regular over ten seasons is impressive. Of course, Harry Lennix was a series regular from the start, and he expressed his gratitude for the show, reflecting on how much changed since the series first premiered in 2013:

With over 200 episodes and ten seasons, The Blacklist took fans, characters, and the cast on a ride. It’s not surprising that Harry Lennix and Hisham Tawfiq are grateful for their opportunity on the series. James Spader revealed how he felt about the show’s ending, even saying that it “completed a circle.” While it is going to be hard to move on from The Blacklist now that the show has ended, fans can always watch the last few episodes of the final season with a Peacock subscription or watch the first nine seasons with a Netflix subscription, as Season 10 will likely come to the streamer at a later date.

The Blacklist was a TV staple through a rapidly changing TV landscape. It began airing during the prestige TV era, and continued on as more TV resources shifted to streaming and prestige fell away in favor of populist shows. It ran through three different Presidential tenures. It lasted through a pandemic and the exit of lead Megan Boone. Yet, as the 2023 summer TV schedule waned, it finally said its goodbyes, and now other The Blacklist cast member James Spader is opening up about Season 10's – and the series’- twist ending and how he felt about it. 

First, if you haven’t seen the series finale of the The Blacklist, I am going to get into spoilers in the next couple of paragraphs, so now may be a good time to bail or scan down later in the article! There had been clues for years that Red was ailing on the NBC show, and his death is exactly what happened, just maybe not how you might have guessed. After some drama involving Dembe getting shot and Red donating blood, the longtime TV character found himself escaping to Spain where he was out for a walk when he was ultimately trampled by a bull. It was Ressler who found his body and returned Red his hat.

Speaking to the AP, James Spader opened up about The Blacklist's final episode actually filming in Spain (which is a real thing that happened), and how he felt about the show’s final TV outing heading international, given its wide an international collective of characters over the years. In short, he felt the final episode “completed a circle” for Red:

How fitting it was to linger on Red’s hat after the incident and for Ressler to set it down where it belonged, near its owner, for the last time. How fitting it was for Red to get away one last time, only for a bull to be his demise. End of spoilers!

The Blacklist Ending: NBC's Decision And How James Spader Feels

As for the show actually ending? Spader told the outlet that he was just happy the network had made a decision ahead of the the final episodes and not after to cancel the show. It enabled the creative team to “commit” in a way some network shows are never able to when they are given a surprise cancelation notice. He said of the NBC decision:

The Peacock network announced this winter that The Blacklist had officially been canceled, though it wasn’t a gigantic surprise. Megan Boone left back in Season 8, and while Reddington is an interesting enough character –and arguably he and Dembe were the most interesting characters – to keep people invested after her exit, the show was getting a little long in the tooth anyway. I mean, 218 episodes is a lot of episodes! Announcing in advance seemingly gave the cast and creative team time to prepare, as Spader’s comments indicate everyone was aware what the score was going to be when the Season 10 finale was filmed. 

A lot of people theorized that Reddington’s destiny was going to ultimately be dying, and the show certainly gets bonus points for the creative way it went about it. I do think the character will go down as one of James Spader’s most memorable, but I’m very interested to see what the actor tackles next. 

In the meantime, catch up on the best The Blacklist episodes with a Peacock subscription. 

Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS are ahead for the series finale of The Blacklist. 

The Blacklist came to an end on NBC in the 2023 TV schedule with a finale that started in what was really the only way that made sense: with Reddington on the run as the task force’s very last Blacklister. Fans have known all season that the show would conclude with the tenth season, and the episodes haven’t been shy about dropping hints that the end was nigh in some form or other for Reddington. The two-part series finale finally ended Red’s story, and his final bow really only hit home for me in a good way due to one scene with a speech by none other than Dembe. 

How The Blacklist Said Goodbye To Reddington

Red was on the run when the finale began, with Congressman Hudson and his allies within the FBI determined to track him down. Cooper and Co. were reluctantly on board (and Ressler extremely reluctant after last week’s tragedy), while Dembe was set on following the letter of the law and bringing his old friend in despite previously warning him that Hudson was closing in. 

Dembe was ultimately arrested when Hudson learned that he’d tipped off Red (although Cooper learned that Dembe had truly done it to prevent a bloodbath), and he was set to be taken to FBI headquarters for questioning. He would never make it, however, as the mini convoy of SVUs transporting him, Hudson, Agent Nixon, and Ressler (among others) was quite literally crashed by Reddington and his men, with Red determined to rescue Dembe. 

Dembe tried to refuse to go with his old friend, which caused enough of a delay that Hudson grabbed the unconscious Nixon’s gun and aimed it at Reddington. Despite Dembe’s attempts to cool everybody down, Hudson pulled the trigger… and shot him in the neck, prompting Red to fire back and kill the congressman with one bullet. He then emptied his clip into Ressler’s bulletproof vest to make sure that the agent couldn’t follow them, and hurried Dembe away for treatment, which involved donating his own blood straight into Dembe. 

And while that saved Dembe’s life, blood donation didn’t exactly help the health of a man who was already ailing. With what energy he had left, Red escaped to Spain (where The Blacklist actually filmed for the finale) and spent his final days shopping at a local market, getting one last call in to Agnes, and going on what would be his very last walk. He found himself facing a bull on his walk, and seemed to finally accept that he was going to die.

Thankfully – for me, anyway – The Blacklist didn’t actually show Reddington being gored by the bull, but his death was confirmed when Ressler arrived on the scene and discovered James Spader as the longtime Concierge of Crime looking like… well, looking like he’d been gored by a bull! In a touching final moment, Ressler picked up Red’s hat and replaced it on the body… and thus ended The Blacklist. 

Now, like what I’m sure are plenty of Blacklist fans after all the clues about Red being unwell over the years, I’ve been convinced that the series finale would end with Reddington being killed off in some form or other, and it was just the question of whether it would be due to natural causes like an illness or some kind of incident. 

Being gored by a bull was a symbolically fitting way for him to die, but also outlandish enough that I initially thought the bull was just a vision that Red saw in his dying moments and Ressler would find the body of a man whose health just gave out. It was not a vision of a dying brain, however, and I’m pretty confident that I wouldn’t have been entirely on board with Red dying in a field after an encounter with a bull if not for a powerful earlier scene that already had me ready to go along with however the ride would end for Raymond Reddington. 

How One Scene Made Red’s Demise Work For Me

The scene in question came with less than fifteen minutes left to go in the entire series, with Cooper paying a somber visit to Dembe in his hospital room while Red went on what would be his final walk over in Spain. I of course knew that something emotional was going to happen as soon as Raign’s version of “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” started to play, and The Blacklist didn’t disappoint. 

Cooper dropped that news on Dembe that even though no charges will be filed against the agent, he has also been relieved of duty. Dembe was at peace with the decision, saying that it was time for him to get out from in front of and behind guns. Dembe then went into a speech about Red’s fearlessness in the face of death and belief that how people live is much more important than the inevitability of death. He always loved Red for refusing to “go quietly into that good night.” 

For his part, Cooper recognized the reference to the poem “Do not go gentle into that good night” by Dylan Thomas, and quoted another line from it: “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” Beginning to tear up, Dembe spoke about Red choosing to embrace life: 

“Knocking on Heavens Door” by Raign playing, Dylan Thomas' “Do not go gentle into that good night” being quoted, Dembe showing how much he still cares about Red just as Red still cares so much about him, and Hisham Tawfiq absolutely crushing the delivery? Of course I was ready to go along with the emotional flow for the rest of the episode! 

Dembe seemed to be addressing the audience more than Cooper for most of the scene, but Tawfiq’s performance made it work for me, and that scene working for me is why I’m willing to shrug and go along with Red’s death happening because he was gored by a bull in a random field in Spain. I can roll with a bonkers plot twist if the characters are selling the emotions of the story! For all that they barely shared any scenes, Red and Dembe’s relationship felt like it was the heart of the two-part finale, and that was a fitting way to end the show after ten seasons. 

After all, after the death of Liz, Dembe and Agnes were arguably those who he felt the most deeply for, and I was happy that Red and Dembe were the ones to get the biggest emotional beats of the final episodes. I’m not sure how long it’ll take me to be ready to rewatch the tear-jerking finale, but it will be available via a Peacock Premium subscription! You can also revisit earlier seasons of The Blacklist streaming with a Netflix subscription. 

We're over two months into an industry-wide writers strike in Hollywood, which has shut down pre-production on a slew of scripted shows and movies. While it isn’t technically against guild rules, it is frowned upon for production to continue on pre-strike written projects. Many sets have shut down in solidarity with the writers as they picket for better pay and working conditions. However, Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story has opted to continue shooting its twelfth season and, recently, a producer of The Blacklist called out the FX show. 

The continued work on AH12 is viewed as controversial, as it requires many industry professionals to cross the picket line. The studio where production takes place has become a picketing location, as many writers have organized lines in the vicinity. It would appear that some feel like the ongoing shoot is a slight to the writers, who are looking for solidarity as the Writers Guild of America fights for a better contract with the major studios. T Cooper, a WGAE strike captain and previous executive producer on The Blacklist, name-dropped AHS while speaking to Deadline and explained why he views this as a "hard" situation:

Kim Kardashian was announced as one of the co-leads for the season alongside Emma Roberts back in April. The reality star has been a target of much WGA grief, as she's continued to film the Ryan Murphy-produced show despite the union's urging to shut down production. Kardashian recently tweeted from the set and received major backlash from supporters of the WGA strike. As T Cooper alludes to, Kardashian is a major player in the entertainment industry and could theoretically be a driving force for the scribes' cause if she sided with them.

Ryan Murphy has also been scrutinized during this time. Not only has he chosen to continue to film his show, forcing many industry professionals to cross picket lines, but he also threatened to sue Warren Leight, a WGAE strike captain. Said lawsuit was sparked by a tweet Leight shared, in which he claimed that Murphy's employees would be "blackballed" if they walked out. After litigation was threatened, Leight took down the tweet, apologizing for his sentiments. At present, Murphy's show continues to shoot at Silvercup Studios and will be available for Hulu subscribers to stream sometime in the near future. 

While AHS12 has opted to continue production and Kim Kardashian and Ryan Murphy have continued to work, many stars have publicly supported the writers. Secret Invasion's Dermot Mulroney walked off the set of The View as a public demonstration of support. In addition, Pete Davidson brought pizza to protestors, and Mark Ruffalo and Mariska Hargitay have both tweeted about their solidarity with the writers. More stars may be striking soon themselves, as the Screen Actors Guild contract will be up on July 12th. 

The writers strike has delayed many projects, like Stranger Things, and Daredevil: Born Again and further delays could be on the horizon. Of course, American Horror Story Season 12 may not experience changes due to the fact that it's still shooting. Time will tell if that continues to be the case, and we'll also have to wait and see if the writers are able to agree upon a new deal with the studios. And as for whether others like The Blacklist's T Cooper calls out AHS as time goes on, that remains to be seen as well.

The Blacklist will come to an end for good in the 2023 TV schedule after ten seasons, more than 200 episodes, and even one attempt at a spinoff, and Reddington himself will be the show's final Blacklister. The two-part finale event on July 13 will be must-see for fans to find out how many of the series' mysteries will actually be solved by the time the final credits roll, and it turns out that the show managed to do something for the very first time during production of the finale. The Blacklist filmed overseas, and some preview images suggest that fans are in for something special.

While fans of The Blacklist know well that the show regularly sets storylines outside the borders of the United States, the show itself has actually never filmed outside of New York. That changed for the finale, with parts of the two-episode event filming in Spain. Based on some preview pictures of what to expect in "Raymond Reddington #00: Part One" and "Raymond Reddington #00: Good Night," it will be very clear that they're not in New York anymore. Take a look at the first:

Call me crazy, but I don't think there are a whole lot of fields like this in New York City! It's not clear just yet if either of the episodes are actually set in Spain or Spain is doubling for another location, but Red was on the run as of the end of the penultimate episode, and the hunt for him has already taken its first casualty. 

The death of Pritchard wasn't actually Reddington's fault, however, as it was the pressure from Congressman Hudson that pushed him to the point of overdosing. Red has a pretty good head start on Hudson by this point, partially thanks to Cooper and Dembe. Check out another look at James Spader as Red in Spain:

While Congressman Hudson may not have his boots on the ground to track down Reddington, Cooper and the task force were given that precise mission by the attorney general, and another image reveals that Ressler is searching for Red in the scenes filmed in Spain. Ressler has no reason to love Hudson, given that the congressman pushed his NA sponsee to the point of breaking, but he has a job to do!

Based on the image that Ressler is showing, it appears that the task force is short on pictures of Reddington that were taken recently! Maybe somebody should have taken a screenshot when Red video-crashed the attorney general's meeting with Hudson, Cooper, and Panabaker in the latest episode so that the task force would have something more current. In all seriousness, though, it looks like The Blacklist went above and beyond for filming the series finale, complete with a helicopter:

Whether the show will end with the capture of Reddington after ten seasons remains to be seen; the man has seemingly been getting his affairs in order all season, but with no clear or definitive explanation for why. All bets are off with a series finale with the stakes about as high as they've ever been! 

Tune in to NBC on Thursday, July 13 starting at 8 p.m. ET for the series finale of The Blacklist. You can also revisit earlier episodes of Season 10 streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription, and the first nine seasons with a Netflix subscription.

Spoilers ahead for Episode 20 of The Blacklist Season 10, called “Arthur Hudson.”

Only days are left before the final credits roll on The Blacklist in the 2023 TV schedule, and the show didn’t wait until the super-sized finale to raise the stakes sky-high for the task force. In “Arthur Hudson,” Congressman Hudson used the information he’d gathered thanks to Pritchard to move on Cooper and Co. Reddington was in the wind, however, prompting the attorney general to pull the agents off the bench and start a hunt for their longtime criminal informant. By the end of the hour, the characters experienced their first casualty of the final hunt for Red, and it was rough to watch. 

The casualty was none other than Pritchard himself, who was overcome with guilt for tricking Ressler and taking advantage of his trust to bug his phone. He fell off the wagon at the end of the previous week’s episode (which will be available streaming via Peacock Premium subscription), and Ressler got a frantic call from Pritchard’s wife that he was missing and his credit cards were being used at bars. Pritchard was still alive when Ressler found him at a motel, but certainly not alive and well, as his NA sponsor found a stash of alcohol, drugs, and pills. 

Pritchard was barely coherent when Ressler started putting him to bed, but he strung together enough words that the agent realized that his phone was bugged. He immediately called Cooper from a landline, and was at least able to give his boss a heads up that the attorney general had recordings of Cooper discussing high treason before the meeting began.

And it would have been great if that was the end of Pritchard’s story in “Arthur Hudson,” but that wasn’t the case. Ressler and the rest of the task force were being held and questioned in their headquarters after having to surrender their cell phones, so Ressler had no idea that his sponsee tried to call him over and over and over again. When he finally got his phone back to get the message, it was too late. Ressler rushed back to the motel, where he found Pritchard dead on the bed from an overdose. 

Now, The Blacklist went a long way to set up that Pritchard wasn’t far enough along in his sobriety journey that he was guaranteed to stay on the straight and narrow in the face of great stress, and falling off the wagon at the end of last week’s episode wasn’t a good sign. Even Ressler finding him looking near death early in “Arthur Hudson” made me suspicious that worse would happen before the end of the hour. Nevertheless, despite kinda seeing it coming, this death hit me hard.

Of all the characters mixed up in Hudson’s quest to shut down the task force and expose their involvement with Reddington, Pritchard was dragged into it by the congressman when his only connection to the potential scandal was a friendship with Ressler based on absolute trust. He wanted nothing to do with bugging his NA sponsor, even after learning about his love for Liz Keen. He was used as a pawn by Hudson, and he certainly didn’t deserve the fate he got. Will he get some justice in the finale?

There are plenty of much bigger characters who I don’t want to see killed off before the end of The Blacklist, but this one hurt. He just wanted to get better, and Ressler couldn’t have been more sincere in wanting to help him. Damn it, Hudson! Pritchard dying also raises the stakes for the series finale, which were already plenty high. On top of Red and Cooper’s meeting at the end of “Arthur Hudson,” I’m wondering if the feds will figure out that Dembe was the one who called Red with a warning, not too long after they shared a beautiful moment.

See who makes it to the very end of the show with the bigger-than-expected series finale of The Blacklist, which will run for two hours on July 13, starting at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. If you want to revisit earlier days of the hit drama, you can find the first nine seasons of The Blacklist streaming via Netflix subscription.

Spoilers ahead for Episode 19 of The Blacklist Season 10, called “Room 417.”

With just weeks left before The Blacklist airs its super-sized series finale in the 2023 TV schedule, the latest episode was a game-changer with some twists from which there’s no turning back. “Room 417” dropped a huge reveal about Reddington that puts the task force in a tough position, while some spectacularly bad timing and a missed clue means that Congressman Hudson has the information he’s been looking for to expose the team. With the finale approaching, let’s look at what went down and what was missed! 

The Big Reveal About Red

The case of the week started off normally enough, with Red dropping a case on the task force while being characteristically vague about who his source of the information actually was. Something was off, however, as he began to look around the headquarters as if he’d never return, and took an FBI pen with him, seemingly as a souvenir. The team began to chase down the lead, which eventually led to the reveal of how Red has been collecting his dirty little secrets for all these years: cameras planted in places to spy on some of the key figures of the United States government.

The agents eventually connected a fax number to a room full of the machines, leading Dembe to realize that it was Red’s intelligence empire, as his old friend prefers analog over digital. It was a secret that Red never let Dembe in on even before he joined the FBI as an agent. Cooper realized that Red had been more or less playing the task force for a very long time, and they protected him while he committed massive and treasonous crimes. Oops?

It was a reveal that could really only have come as the show was approaching its end, and Reddington is still being frustratingly vague about why he’s seemingly getting his affairs in order. His story to Cooper about the death of President Garfield adds some more fuel to the theories that his own death is imminent, but it seems that The Blacklist may keep us hanging until almost the very end… and the final episodes are about to get even more complicated for the task force on top of Red’s treason. 

The Clue That Ressler Missed

Ressler unknowingly became Hudson’s window into the task force, as the congressman recruited Pritchard – a fellow government employee who happens to be Ressler’s sponsee in NA – to spy. Pritchard was reluctant to betray his sponsor when first asked, but learning of Ressler’s connection to Liz Keen in the previous episode convinced him. (That episode is available streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription.)

That’s not to say that he was all-in on bugging Ressler’s phone in “Room 417,” and Hudson had to push him pretty hard to get him to agree to use some NSA tech on the device. Pritchard had to lie to Ressler by playing on Ressler’s earnest efforts to keep him on the wagon, and convinced his sponsor to let him use his phone to call his wife. Pritchard stepped outside while Ressler paid their check at a cafe, plugged in the NSA tech, and faked a phone call to his wife. 

And I was immediately convinced that even as Pritchard reluctantly betrayed Ressler, he also dropped a big clue for the agent to figure out that something was off. Pritchard of course wasn’t calling his wife, and even if Ressler couldn’t detect that his phone had been bugged, surely he could have glanced at his recent call history – even if only by chance – and discovered that Pritchard hadn’t called his wife at all! And for a crack FBI agent, surely that could have tipped him off that something was wrong beyond Pritchard needing some NA support. 

But that didn’t happen. The tap worked, and Hudson started listening in just in time to hear Cooper establish that Red has been a criminal informant for twelve years and they protected him through acts of sedition and treason. Hudson now has what sounds like a recorded confession of some very bad deeds, without ten seasons’ worth of context. 

What The Reveal And Missed Clue Mean For The Finale

All of this said, there's a chance that the show could more or less wrap up the Congressman Hudson plot ahead of the finale and use those last two installments to focus more on the Reddington situation. We can only speculate at this point, but the upcoming episode on July 6 is called "Arthur Hudson," which I'd say suggests that it could be the climax of the arc. 

According to the episode description from NBC, Cooper will have to go on defense after he is summoned by the attorney general. Red will evidently be visiting "dear friends," which also supports the theory that he knows his end is nigh. It may be for the best for the task force if Red is nowhere to be found, considering all the treason and his unpredictable nature! Something tells me that Hudson and the attorney general wouldn't accept vague stories about a long-dead president as an answer to a question. 

Hudson has every reason to believe that Reddington’s corruption goes even higher than Cooper’s task force, and given that this happened with only a few episodes left in the series, it’s entirely possible that Hudson really could take them down. This development may have been inevitable once Blair Foster reached out to the congressman earlier this season.

Basically, with Red's stream of information presumably drying up to stop the task force from doing their jobs, Hudson on the hunt, and Cooper being called in front of the attorney general, the agents could be in for a lot of trouble in the last episodes of the series. Keep tuning in to NBC on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET for what remains of The Blacklist. 

Only one episode is left before the two-part finale on July 13. You can also revisit earlier seasons of the long-running drama streaming with a Netflix subscription. Season 10 episodes are only available streaming via Peacock.  

Spoilers ahead for Episode 18 of The Blacklist Season 10, called “Wormwood.”

The Blacklist returned to NBC in the 2023 TV schedule after a week off with an episode that put Red in a great deal of danger with a ticking clock, but it wasn’t his perilous situation that could have a lasting fallout. A subplot involving Ressler, Pritchard, and Congressman Hudson brought the late Liz Keen’s legacy into the fold, and it could ultimately lead to the downfall of the task force as the series finale approaches, particularly in the wake of what happened with Dembe in the previous episode. 

Ressler has been supporting Pritchard as NA sponsor, with the two men having their status as government workers in common as well as their struggles with drugs. Pritchard started “Wormwood” with absolute trust in his sponsor, even giving Ressler his chip for being two months sober as a sign of his gratitude. Unfortunately, Congressman Hudson caught wind of their bond in NA, and he took advantage of it by bringing up Liz Keen and Ressler's relationship, years after actress Megan Boone’s unsatisfying departure in the Season 8 finale. (Season 8 is available streaming with a Netflix subscription.)

To Pritchard’s credit, he initially defended Ressler as a patriot who had devoted his life to defending his country, and that their relationship was none of Hudson’s business. Hudson countered with the reveal that Ressler is part of a secret task force working on behalf of Red. Pritchard deemed it “laughable” that his NA sponsor was working on a task force for a crime lord, but Hudson told him that he was the only one with the personal connection to find the proof to take the team down... and getting proof could help Ressler.  

Hudson then dropped the name of Ressler’s weak spot: Liz Keen, whose death sent Ressler spiraling back into addiction in Season 9. The congressman said: 

Unfortunately for Ressler and the team, Pritchard did just that, although he clearly felt awful about it. He called his sponsor to beat around the Liz Keen bush at first, telling Ressler that he’d been asked to pry into the personal life of someone he cares about “for his own good” because his friend is “being taken advantage of.” He finally got the agent to admit to his bond with Liz Keen, and then went back to Hudson to say:

Hudson insisted that he can’t pull down the task force without Pritchard’s help, and Pritchard was on board by the end of the episode. Now, the congressman – who previously was so dirt-free that even Red couldn’t find anything to smear him with – has a mole with a personal connection to a member of the task force, and Ressler clearly didn’t suspect that Pritchard was up to anything with his line of questioning. 

Even years after losing Liz, her role in the team could be what indirectly takes it down, as it seems unlikely that anything less would have convinced Pritchard to flip. Of course, a lot can happen between now and the super-sized series finale on Thursday, July 13 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. Whether or not the task force is still together by the time the final credits roll on the series remains to be seen!

Spoilers ahead for Episode 17 of The Blacklist Season 10, called “The Morgana Logistics Corporation.”

The Blacklist only has a limited number of episodes left before the final credits roll on the series, and it remains to be seen if the long-running drama will answer all of the questions surrounding Reddington. In the latest episode, he managed to help out the task force while also playing everybody, although it’s still not crystal clear why he’s been so sentimental lately. “The Morgana Logistics Corporation” unfortunately did make it clear how Congressman Hudson could take down the task force, and there's no guarantee that Red has enough of the right tricks left to possibly save the FBI unit if the worst should happen courtesy of Hudson. 

To the show’s credit, it wasn’t until the end of the hour that Red was revealed to actually be playing more than one side, and he did give the task force the win of putting a stop to Morgana’s elaborate smuggling operation... even if he himself had been behind it. He then proceeded to arrange the $3 million bail to get their #1 arrest out of prison and threw a party for all of the people who had worked with him. For a reason that still is not clear, he dismantled another one of his operations, gave the agents a win, and even got to hang out with Dembe again after they shared a beautiful moment together in the previous episode, which will be available streaming via Peacock Premium subscription. 

On the whole, Red manipulating the entire investigation into Morgana for his own purposes felt like classic Red, and I still enjoy when The Blacklist reveals an overly elaborate plot that only James Spader’s character could have possibly made work. He hasn’t lost his touch for tricks, but I can’t help but wonder if he has any moves that could get the task force out of their sticky situation with Congressman Hudson, which just got a whole lot stickier. As director Saray Guidetti explained previously, the agents were in serious jeopardy with Hudson digging into their secrets, and he uncovered a lot of what Cooper and Co. undoubtedly would have preferred to remain classified. 

Not deterred by losing the support of Senator Dorf, Hudson found new leads to chase when an old FBI contact brought him the news that Cooper had secretly met with another three assistant directors at the Bureau, and chasing that lead resulted in an agent accidentally dropping “Zuma” when threatening him with potential legal action if he takes any of his findings to Congress. It was just a single word, but it was enough. “Zuma” of course led the congressman to Dembe, which naturally is a big giveaway that Red was involved. 

Once Hudson connected the Dembe dots, he realized that Cooper adopted the daughter of Liz Keen, who had gone on the run with Red prior to her untimely death and dramatic farewell. Even Ressler was pulled into the mess due to his past hunt for Red. Everything pointed toward the secrets of the task force revolving around Reddington, and Hudson seems to have the information that he needs to start digging deeper than ever into the team. Through no fault of his own, Dembe may have been the key to taking down the whole group.

And while Red usually has the tricks to get out of just about anything, he already discovered in his sneaky search of Hudson’s house that there’s nothing to use as leverage against him and no way to blackmail him. Plus, Red has been mysteriously sentimental in Season 10, which extends to giving away his earthly possessions, so it’s even harder than usual to predict what he can and is willing to do. 

We can only wait and see with new episodes of The Blacklist in its new time slot of Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. The series will air its very last episode in the not-too-distant future, so you can check out our 2023 TV premiere schedule if you’re looking for new TV options once Red's journey has ended.

Spoilers ahead for Episodes 15 and 16 of The Blacklist Season 10 on NBC.

The Blacklist has officially made its big move from Sunday nights to Thursday nights, where the hit drama will continue airing new episodes until the super-sized series finale. Fans were in for a treat in the first Thursday broadcast, as NBC delivered not one but two episodes. The first – called “The Hat Trick” – involved Red getting sneaky while searching for answers, while the second – called “Blair Foster No. 39” – delivered a surprisingly sweet scene with Red and Dembe ahead of a big twist at the end. “Blair Foster No. 39” director Saray Guidetti spoke with CinemaBlend to break down what happened!

Red And Dembe's "Beautiful Moment" Together

Between politicians looking for transparency and a complicated case (with a little blackmail before the end), the task force was in a sticky situation. It did, however, result in a sweet scene between Red (James Spader) and Dembe (Hisham Tawfiq). Even though Dembe visited Red for work reasons, they chatted as old friends who had gone through a lot together before one of them became an FBI agent and the other stayed in a life of crime. 

Saray Guidetti, who came to The Blacklist as part of NBCUniversal’s Female Forward program that gives directors the opportunity to helm a TV episode after shadowing in the same season, shared with CinemaBlend that she watched every episode of the show to prepare before stepping behind the camera for “Blair Foster No. 39.” She opened up about her approach to Red and Dembe’s scene with Spader and Tawfiq:

Red also took a little time to bond with Manny Soto (played by David Zayas after a dangerous turn on CBS’ FBI) in Cuba, but there are few characters on The Blacklist with nearly as much history as Red and Dembe. Saray Guidetti elaborated on why she wanted to emphasize the personal moments between these complicated characters, saying: 

The earlier seasons before the time jump that honored Liz Keen and turned Dembe into an FBI agent actually involved a lot of Red and Dembe together. Given that the director took the time to watch every episode and read every script available to her, I asked if getting to showcase Red and Dembe’s bond was particularly fun for her: 

Whether or not The Blacklist has more beautiful moments of Red and Dembe together before the end remains to be seen, but Dembe has clearly been concerned about his old friend and how he’s been giving away so many of his valuable possessions. Of course, both of them and the task force might have bigger problems to worry about in light of Blair Foster (Francie Swift) and Congressman Hudson (Toby Leonard Moore).

Blair Foster Causing Problems That Were "Hard To Watch"

Cooper (Harry Lennix) was facing a kind of jeopardy that didn’t involve bullets flying or terrorist threats, but the task force possibly being exposed and shut down. Congressman Hudson recruited the help of Senator Dorf (Wayne Duvall) in trying to shine light on what the task force usually gets to do in the shadows, and Senator Panabaker (Deirdre Lovejoy) couldn’t stop the situation from going before a judge. 

Ultimately, it was thanks to the judge’s ruling and Blair Foster having dirt on Dorf that the task force was protected, but the story isn’t over. Blair called Hudson at the end of the hour, and the final credits rolled without a reveal of whether the congressman would work with her. Saray Guidetti opened up about the cliffhanger with Blair Foster: 

The director established that she didn’t know what would happen next when she directed the episode (including the final scene), but fans of Scandal can surely understand why Guidetti’s mind jumped to Kerry Washington’s Olivia Pope! Guidetti went on to share that Francie Swift as Blair had a “similar quality that James Spader has,” in that she could “talk forever and you want to listen and you’re engaged and you want to know what she’s thinking.” 

Saray Guidetti also shared why she loved how the case of the week led to the introduction of this new character:

Would anybody have ever caught Blair Foster if Red hadn’t given Cooper something for the task force to investigate? Red’s motivations are often pretty murky, but going after Blair did ultimately result in the task force getting a reprieve when she gave up her dirt on the senator in time to stop his press conference from naming names. She doesn’t seem to have anything on Hudson, but will that change? Saray Guidetti shared her thoughts, based on what happened in her episode:

Will Hudson have to make a decision between what he truly believes and the means to an end of taking down the task force, with Blair willing to go on the offensive for what she described as a "mutually beneficial relationship" together? Only time will tell on that front, but even Red had to admit in the first episode on June 1 that Hudson was a good man. The director explained that Hudson getting the news about Dorf was “hard to watch,” saying:

I think it’s safe to say that Saray Guidetti isn’t alone in wanting to see what happens next as soon as possible, after what went down in “Blair Foster No. 39” and how it ended! Fans with a Peacock Premium subscription will be able to rewatch as soon as it arrives on the streaming service. 

Episodes will continue airing in The Blacklist’s new time slot of Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC up until the two-hour series finale on July 13. For some more viewing options before and after the end of the series, be sure to check out our 2023 TV premiere schedule! 

The Blacklist is going strong in the tenth and final season, with no sign that it’s going to slow down leading up to the bigger-than-expected series finale in July. The show moves to Thursday nights with a pair of episodes that should raise the stakes even higher. Director Saray Guidetti spoke with CinemaBlend about the “serious jeopardy” that’s facing the team in the second of the two episodes on June 1, as well as how she prepared to step behind the camera of a show that’s already more than 200 episodes in. 

Saray Guidetti came to The Blacklist as part of NBCUniversal Launch’s Female Forward program, which involves directors helming an episode of television after shadowing earlier in the same season. She directed Episode 16 of Season 10, called “Blair Foster No. 39,” and shared how she prepared to come into such a long-running show close to its finale. Guidetti explained: 

The Female Forward director prepared for “Blair Foster No. 39” by watching the entire series that was available to that point as well as reading the scripts for episodes that had not yet aired. While fans can certainly watch The Blacklist’s first nine seasons at their leisure with a Netflix subscription, Saray Guidetti went the extra mile for her episodic TV directing debut. 

For a show as complex and long-running as The Blacklist, watching the entire saga so far is no small feat! When I asked if watching every episode resulted in her having anything that she particularly wanted to do when she had her chance behind the camera, Guidetti shared:

The problem of Congressman Hudson digging into the task force certainly wasn’t resolved in the span of just one single episode a couple of weeks ago, and an exclusive sneak peek at the first of the two episodes on June 1 reveals Red doing some digging for answers about what Hudson is up to. The team is still in what Saray Guidetti describes as “serious jeopardy,” which should be a lot more fun for fans to watch than for the characters to experience! 

Fans will have to tune in to NBC on June 1 for everything that unfolds with the team in jeopardy on The Blacklist, but the director went on to preview what she was particularly excited about with her episode: working with Toby Leonard Moore as Congressman Hudson and Wayne Duvall as Senator Dorf. Saray Guidetti continued:

Cooper has faced his share of opponents over ten years of The Blacklist, but he has never been in a situation quite like this before. Based on what the director teased for “Blair Foster No. 39,” fans can seemingly expect some strong performances from Toby Leonard Moore as Hudson and Wayne Duvall as Dorf in opposition to Harry Lennix as Cooper and Deirdre Lovejoy as Panabaker. 

This episode will also be one half of two hours of The Blacklist on June 1, as NBC is delivering a double dose of the action in the new time slot. Saray Guidetti explained that she didn’t know her episode would be paired with another when she directed, and only had good things to say about the back-to-back cases: 

Airing on June 11 would have meant The Blacklist keeping the time slot on Sundays that it held for the majority of Season 10 (and paired it with Magnum P.I. prior to Magnum’s midseason finale). The change means that not only will “Blair Foster No. 39” air earlier than originally planned, but will also be part of two back-to-back episodes. 

Be sure to tune in to NBC on June 1 starting at 8 p.m. ET for the double dose of The Blacklist, and don’t forget to check back with CinemaBlend afterward for more of what Saray Guidetti had to say about her 9 p.m. episode of The Blacklist! The series finale is scheduled for July 13, so now is not the time to start missing any episodes. 

The Blacklist is approaching the end of its tenth and final season, and the drama moves to a new night with two brand new episodes on Thursday, June 1. The stakes are already high for Red and the task force, and an exclusive clip for the next episode (seen above) reveals Red getting sneaky while questioning what the congressman is up to… and who he has his eye on. Take a look!

The first of two episodes on June 1 (which will be available streaming via Peacock subscription) is called “The Hat Trick” and will air at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. In hockey, a hat trick is generally a series of three successes in the span of one game; while it seems safe to say that Red won’t be picking up a hockey stick and puck after seemingly breaking into Congressman Hudson’s home, the episode title could point toward an ambitious plan. 

In fact, according to NBC’s description for “The Hat Trick,” Red will provide the task force with three criminal cases that – in true Reddington style – will be more complicated than they seem at first. Whether or not Red breaking and entering leads to him presenting any of these cases remains to be seen, but it at least is a sign that Congressman Hudson needs better security than what Red could beat by going on his tiptoes and pulling out a low-tech tool! 

In all seriousness, NBC’s night of double Blacklist action looks like must-see TV, not least because the change from Sunday nights to Thursday nights will lead up to a bigger-than-expected series finale that runs for two hours. “The Hat Trick” will lead into a second episode on June 1, although this does not seem to be an official two-parter. 

While the second half of Season 10 means that the show will soon come to an end, The Blacklist has had a lot to celebrate in 2023, including hitting the 200-episode milestone. The show will also inherit the former slot that Law & Order held prior to hitting its own milestone with the Season 22 finale in mid-May. The James Spader-led drama was previously paired with Magnum P.I. on Sundays before that show’s midseason finale in April. 

The series finale of The Blacklist will air on July 13, so there’s still plenty of time left for the plot to thicken even further for Red and Co. before the end. Whether or not the show will pay off on some unanswered questions from the first nine seasons (which are available streaming with a Netflix subscription) is unclear at this point, but the show already delivered a big blast to the past by adding the daughter of Season 1’s Meera Malik to the task force. 

Be sure to keep tuning in on Thursdays for what remains of The Blacklist, and plan on a double-header on June 1 with two episodes back to back! For some more summer viewing options, don’t forget to take a look at our 2023 TV premiere schedule. 

The Blacklist is going strong in its tenth and final season, and now NBC has more big news not too long after it hit the milestone 200th episode. As the saga approaches the end, the James Spader-led series is moving nights once again. Whether or not that’s good news for fans who may have gotten used to seeing Red and Co. on Sunday nights, there’s another reveal definitely worth celebrating: the network is giving The Blacklist a super-sized series finale. And that’s not even all!

NBC has announced that The Blacklist will change time slots to begin airing on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET beginning on June 1, after spending the previous months of the 2023 TV schedule on Sundays. The 8 p.m. time slot on Thursdays means that the drama will inherit the primetime slot previously held by Law & Order Season 22, which aired its finale (which was also its 400th episode) in May. 

In addition to the change in the schedule, The Blacklist will air back-to-back episodes on June 1, giving fans two hours of Reddington action to start the month. The drama will also end with a two-hour series finale event on July 13, starting at 8 p.m. ET.

While some of these may seem like odd changes for a show as it approaches its end, they’re not unprecedented for NBC. Medical drama New Amsterdam doubled up on episodes not too long before the end, and then concluded with a two-hour series finale event. It remains to be seen if The Blacklist’s final two episodes were written as a two-parter, as New Amsterdam’s executive producers told CinemaBlend earlier this year that it wasn’t the original plan for the medical drama. 

There is still one episode left before The Blacklist changes over to Thursdays, with “The Nowhere Bride” airing on Sunday, May 28 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC. The first portion of Season 10 was actually the first time that the show aired weekly on Sundays, which I saw as potential great news for fans. It was paired with the NBC revival of Magnum P.I., set to return in midseason. The network now has more vacant primetime slots after the finales of One Chicago, the Law & Order shows, and other series from the 2022-2023 TV season, so it’s not shocking to see The Blacklist make a move.

It’s also not unusual for The Blacklist to change time slots in the span of a single season. The eighth season started on Fridays before moving to Wednesdays, followed by Season 9 starting on Thursdays before moving back to Fridays, followed by the move to Sundays to start Season 10. With the finale scheduled for July 13, it’s a safe bet that NBC does not plan on changing The Blacklist’s place in the schedule again before the two-hour series finale. The network has not yet announced what show will take over 8 p.m. ET on Thursdays after the end of The Blacklist.

For now, be sure to tune in to NBC on May 28 for the very last new episode of The Blacklist that will air on Sunday, and prepare for the switch to Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET starting on June 1. If you want to revisit earlier episodes, you can find recent Season 10 episodes with a Peacock Premium subscription, and Seasons 1-9 streaming with a Netflix subscription. 

Spoilers ahead for the 200th episode of The Blacklist, called “The Hyena.”

The Blacklist may be ending with the current tenth season, but not before hitting a major milestone with its diabolical 200th episode on March 19. In “The Hyena,” Red (James Spader) quickly revealed his immediate motive behind breaking Vesco (Stacy Keach) out of prison: a treasure hunt that required both of their expertise to be first to the prize. They had to try and beat the quite literally killer competition, with the FBI task force in the mix. It was a fun way to celebrate hitting 200 episodes (even though that cliffhanger may not be fun for Red in the long run), but it didn’t answer a major leftover question. Speaking with CinemaBlend, Stacy Keach shed some light. 

Over the course of Stacy Keach’s other appearances on The Blacklist, the show established that Vesco had stolen a lot of money from Reddington, and that had not been resolved by the end of his appearance in Season 9. Vesco was too busy being poisoned and then broken out of custody for the issue to come up in the 199th episode, and Red didn’t bring it up during their adventure in #200. In fact, the episode ended with Red telling Cooper (Harry Lennix) that betrayals were a thing of the past for him and his former mentor. But is that truly the case?

When I spoke with Stacy Keach about his return in Season 10, he opened up about about the question of Vesco and Red’s status quo regarding that stolen money after where they left off in Season 9: 

The end of the 200th episode left the door very open for Vesco to return, so The Blacklist technically isn’t out of chances to address the question of what happened to the money that he stole from Red, and what Red would do about it. That said, I’d argue that Stacy Keach saying that element of the plot “was never really dealt with” is a sign that The Blacklist won’t be revisiting that particular storyline before the end later this year. 

Of course, it makes sense that Red might have more pressing matters on his mind in Season 10, and he seems to be doing just fine without all the money that Vesco stole. In this final batch of episodes, former Blacklisters are uniting against James Spader’s character to try and take him down, which could mean more challenges than ever for the Task Force. The group does have a bit of extra help in Season 10 with the arrival of Siya Malik (Anya Banerjee) in the wake of the departures of Aram and Park at the end of Season 9. 

The Task Force is pretty intact now despite last season’s departures. They were somewhat unwillingly pulled into Red's scheme in “The Hyena” since they had to chase his and Vesco’s murderous competition as a higher priority than Red and Vesco, who – ask Keach has said – share a “certain brand of morality.” It just remains to be seen how much time the two have left together on screen, depending on if Stacy Keach returns in Season 10. 

On the whole, the 200th episode was a fun hour of television that still ended on a foreboding note about Red’s enemies. It somewhat reminded me of The Blacklist going for a heist in the milestone 100th episode back in 2018, as opposed to the 150th that focused a bit more on backstory with Katarina in 2020. For now, you can look forward to new episodes on Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC, and revisit earlier episodes of Season 10 streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription.

Spoilers ahead for Episode 3 of The Blacklist Season 10, called “The Four Guns.”

The latest episode of The Blacklist sent the elite team of agents (as well as newcomer Siya Malik) in an unexpected direction: chasing pickpockets. These were no common pickpockets, however, and their stealing contributed to a near-death experience for Senator Panabaker. In true Blacklist style, not all was as it seemed, and Red (James Spader) had a plot of his own going on the side: break Robert Vesco (Stacy Keach) out of prison, just in time for next week’s 200th episode. Keach spoke with CinemaBlend about the upcoming milestone!

Naturally, Red found a way to break his former mentor out of prison (where Vesco has been since Season 9) in a way that nobody could have seen coming: a poisoned copy of Oliver Twist that landed Vesco in the hospital, from which it was much easier to smuggle him to freedom than from behind bars. When they were reunited, Keach wasn’t entirely ready to trust him not to poison him again despite what Stacy Keach described as the “certain brand of morality” that they have in common, while Red insisted that Vesco was a guest rather than a prisoner. 

Then Red pulled out a copy of Treasure Island, which clued Vesco in that his old mentee had a treasure-related plot. Red didn’t start sharing any details, but with the 200th episode coming up on March 19, it’s safe to say that something big is in store. After all, the 100th episode delivered a memorable heist back in 2018 and the 150th in 2020 dropped some clues about Katarina. While Stacy Keach didn’t reveal all the spoilers of what’s to come in the 200th episode, he did share what it was like for him to be part of that milestone on The Blacklist, saying:

Stacy Keach contracted COVID while shooting for The Blacklist Season 10 (and had good things to say about being in “the bosom of NBC and The Blacklist to get well”), but he remembers filming the 200th episode as quite a special experience. And it’s really only fitting that Vesco was brought back for this episode. After all, he was Red’s mentor, and with the series ending after the current Season 10, the 200th episode will be the last big milestone.

So, how dynamic will the con men duo be now that they’re reunited for the 200th episode? NBC’s episode description teases that Red’s treasure hunt will involve challenging clues; based on what Stacy Keach said about his latest adventure with James Spader, they could be more diabolical than dynamic together. Keach shared that it was “wonderful” and “absolutely” fun to work with Spader again, then elaborated on playing Vesco to Spader’s Reddington:

How “diabolical” will The Blacklist get with the 200th episode on March 19? Fans will have to wait until the milestone next week to see how much the show takes advantage of this quality that Red and Vesco have in common, but I think it’s safe to say that it’ll be fun to watch… at least partly, anyway. With how sky-high the stakes are in Season 10, viewers may not want to take anything for granted! ! For a sneak peek at what’s to come, check out the promo for the 200th episode:

Tune in to NBC on Sunday, March 19 at 10 p.m. ET to catch the milestone 200th episode of The Blacklist, called “The Hyena.” There’s no saying at this point how long Vesco will stick around, so be sure to watch Stacy Keach back in action with James Spader! You can also find earlier episodes of Season 10 streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription, and Keach’s earlier episodes of The Blacklist with a Netflix subscription. 

The Blacklist debuted in the 2023 TV schedule with bittersweet news for fans: while the hit drama was returning after a long hiatus, the tenth season would also be the last. Fortunately, the show is clearly going out in style, as the swan song season is already bringing back familiar faces and unforgettable blacklisters. In the next new episode on March 12, Robert Vesco himself will turn up again, with Stacy Keach reprising his role as Red's former mentor and notorious con man. Keach spoke with CinemaBlend about his return in the final season!

Prior to Season 10, Stacy Keach most recently appeared on The Blacklist when Red approached Vesco back in Season 9, in an episode that was big for Aram and Ressler as well as Vesco. He and his former mentee didn't part particularly well, as Vesco was arrested and presumably carted off to prison, while Red remained free but without the money that Vesco stole. 

Fans will have to wait and watch the next new episode – called "The Four Guns" – to see what their reunion will look like and whether any grudges are held, but the guest star only had good things to say about working with James Spader again. Keach explained to CinemaBlend that he was "thrilled to be able to" return for the final season, even though he didn't initially know that Season 10 would be the last. He continued: 

"Hanky panky" is a nice way to describe some of the darker deeds that Red has gotten up to on The Blacklist, and what Vesco evidently got up to in his earlier days! Red is certainly a one-of-a-kind character on network television, and the presence of Stacy Keach's con man tends to bring out a different side of him than the typical blacklister. The actor continued to compare Vesco and Red:

Have both Red and Vesco done plenty of bad things in their lives of crime? Sure, but there's a reason why Red is more of an anti-hero than a villain, and has had plenty of fans rooting for him for a decade now. As Stacy Keach said, the two men have their "certain brand of morality." They don't act within the bounds of the law, but the FBI agents also don't have to worry that they'll cross the worst of the worst lines. And what would The Blacklist be without characters like that? 

When I noted that Red and Vesco having their particular kind of morality is part of what makes them fun to watch together, Keach responded:

Stacy Keach hadn't yet seen his newest scenes as Robert Vesco when we spoke, but his comments indicate that a must-see episode is on the way on March 12. Plus, the guest star's glowing comments about returning to the drama are especially impressive due to the fact that he discovered that he and another actor had both contracted COVID-19 while shooting. 

According to Keach, he "couldn't have asked for a better place to be than in the bosom of NBC and The Blacklist to get well," and he was able to recover and get back to shooting after two weeks. As for what Vesco has been up to (or not been up to) since being taken into custody in Season 9, the promo doesn't give away any clues: 

The NBC episode description for "The Four Guns" sheds a little bit of light with the reveal that Red will send a dangerous present to an old friend. Luckily, the wait to see exactly what this entails and how it brings back Vesco is nearly over. The next new episode of The Blacklist airs on Sunday, March 12 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC, at home in its new Season 10 time slot. 

You can also find episodes streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription, already including the season premiere. If you want to revisit one of Stacy Keach's earlier episodes as the unforgettable Robert Vesco, you can find the first nine seasons of The Blacklist streaming for Netflix subscribers. The show lost some stars ahead of Season 10, but with more former blacklisters turning up every week, the action hasn't slowed down! 

SPOILER WARNING: The following article gives away some of the most pivotal, game-changing, and twisted moments from The Blacklist. Unless you are caught up on the l last nine seasons, we recommend that you proceed with caution.

When a TV series goes on for long enough, it should come as no surprise that it may lose a few cast members along the way, especially in an era when shows like HBO’s medieval epic Game of Thrones and survivalist horror drama The Walking Dead are among the most popular series in recent memory. Still, in many cases, it never makes us any less curious as to what exactly was the reason for the exit and there are more than enough examples of this among the cast of The Blacklist.

Only a few actors from creator Jon Bokenkamp’s addictive NBC crime drama — such as Emmy Award winner James Spader as elusive master criminal-turned-FBI informant, Raymond “Red” Reddington — have remained a constant part of the series’ main ensemble in the ten years it has been on the air. As we approach the premiere of The Blacklist Season 10 — also its final season, which debuts on Sunday, February 26, 2023 — let’s take a look back at the actors who have had their own names crossed off the list over the years, starting with the one whose character served as the heart of the story from the very beginning.

Megan Boone

The moment that kicks off the overarching story of The Blacklist occurs in the pilot episode from 2013, when Red Reddington turns himself into the authorities and personally asks to speak to rookie FBI profiler Elizabeth Keen, played by Megan Boone. As Deadline confirmed in 2021, the actor would choose to walk away from the character that would become, and has remained at tyhis time, the definitive role of her career, citing a desire to seek other opportunities. After Liz was shockingly killed off in the Season 8 finale, Boone would launch her own production company and later landed her first major follow-up role as part of Fox’s Accused cast on an episode directed by Marlee Matlin.

Ryan Eggold

Another main character from The Blacklist who was written out of the show by way of murder was Elizabeth Keen’s husband, Tom, played Ryan Eggold, whose final curtain was on the eighth episode of Season 5, in which he was stabbed to death by drug lord Ian Garvey. The exit came not long after Eggold returned to the main cast following the early cancellation of his spin-off series, The Blacklist: Redemption — and was later revealed in an interview with EW, by then EP Jon Bokenkamp, to be a creative decision in service of further the plot. Soon after, Eggold found success as the lead of the hit NBC medical drama New Amsterdam, which would continue to find great success on Netflix following its series finale.

Parminder Nagra

One of the earliest character write-offs on The Blacklist occurred in the 22nd and final episode of its very first season when, tragically, CIA agent Meera Malik’s throat was slit by a blacklister’s henchperson. While no official explanation for her departure was ever given (perhaps it was for creative reasons, as with Ryan Eggold’s exit), Malik actor and former ER cast member, Parminder Nagra, has since enjoyed a stellar career in many notable movies and TV shows — such as Netflix’s hit thriller, Bird Box, and the British crime drama DI Ray in the title role. According to TV Line, The Blacklist Season 10 is referencing Malik’s death by introducing the character’s daughter — an MI6 agent named Siya, played by Anya Banerjee.

Mozhan Marnò

One The Blacklist actor lucky enough to say that her character was not killed off is Mozhan Marnò, who would actually reprise the role of FBI agent Samar Navabi for an episode in Season 9 after leaving in the 14th episode of the sixth season. According to an Entertainment Weekly article detailing her return, the Iranian-American actor’s exit from the cast was her own decision, expressing that she was ready for a new chapter in her career. Marnò’s most notable roles since include some of the best TV shows on Hulu exclusively — namely Ramy, Pam and Tommy, and Flesichman Is In Trouble, most recently. 

Amir Arison

In addition to Season 9 being the first we saw of Mozhan Marnò as Samar Navabi in a while, it would be the last we saw of one of the longest-standing members of the main Blacklist cast: Amir Arison in the role of NSA agent-turned-FBI agent and computer designer, Aram Mojtabi. An article by Deadline from mid-2022 revealed that the actor’s choice to leave after the season's 22nd and final episode was prompted by his casting in a stage production of Khaled Hoseeini’s 2003 novel, The Kite Runner, which also marked his Broadway debut. It was later revealed in another Deadline article from January 2023 that Arison landed his next big TV role, as a DEA agent this time, in Apple TV+’s upcoming drama Sinking Ship, from creator Peter Craig and executive producer and director Ridley Scott.

Laura Sohn 

It was also reported in the same Deadline article that detailed Amir Arison’s exit from The Blacklist cast that Laura Sohn — who was brought on as a recurring player in Season 7 before being bumped up to series regular the following year — would also be stepping away from her role as Agent Alina Park after the Season 9 finale. Previously known for guest starring spots on dramas like NCIS: New Orleans and God Friended Me, the actor reportedly left the show wanting to pursue other projects. There is no word at the moment on what Sohn’s next acting endeavor may be, but with a Netflix subscription, you can check out her appearance as a law student in the 2020 post-9/11 drama, Worth.

A subscription to Netflix will also give you access to relive all of your favorite moments that feature each of these former Blacklist cast members in their respective roles on the acclaimed, long-running TV series. Watch how it all comes to an end when the Season 10 premiere airs on NBC.

The Blacklist is on the verge of returning to NBC after spending the better part of a year on hiatus, but fans have some bad news to go along with the Season 10 premiere in just a few weeks. NBC has announced that the long-running drama will end with the tenth season, which debuts on February 26 in the 2023 TV premiere schedule with some former series regulars absent. Still, there’s a silver lining to the news that the end is nigh!

The Blacklist will debut Season 10 in a brand new time slot, making the move to Sundays after switching between Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays in previous seasons. The show ending isn’t altogether surprising in light of reports from over the summer, but getting the news before the final season even premieres doesn’t happen for many series. 

So, with a few weeks still to go before catching up with Reddington and Co. for the first time since May 2022, here are some reasons why the show ending with Season 10 could ultimately be good!

The Blacklist Can Stick The Landing

The news that Season 10 will also be the last batch of episodes this early in the new year actually bodes very well for the end. This means that the team behind the scenes has the time to craft an actual ending for the characters and the plot, which isn’t the case when shows are cancelled only after airing their previous season finale. That’s not to say that The Blacklist will deliver all of the answers and all of the closure that fans are hoping for, but the show has the time to plan ahead and stick the landing. 

The Blacklist Will Hit A Big Milestone With Time To Spare

The renewal for Season 10 set the show up for a big milestone, and fans will officially get to experience it before the end. The 200th episode of The Blacklist will air on Sunday, March 19 on NBC, with more episodes to come after. That’s not quite as impressive as NCIS reaching 400 episodes in 2020 or Law & Order: SVU hitting 500 episodes in 2021, but few shows last as long as The Blacklist has. With ten seasons and more than 200 episodes by the end, nobody can argue that the show was anything but a success, and it won't end just shy of a major milestone.

Season 9 Set Up A Worthy Final Arc

The description for Season 10 proves that The Blacklist fully intends to pay off on the cliffhanger at the end of Season 9. Red is in unparalleled danger this time around with his role as an FBI informant on the verge of potential widespread exposure. Former Blacklisters (presumably beyond those who appeared at the end of the ninth season) will come together in a quest for revenge. 

If revisiting some past villains isn’t a great way to wrap a final season, I don’t know what else would be! The show will also revisit a Season 1 tragedy with Anya Banerjee as a new series regular. If the end has to come, the NBC show has set up a doozy of a final arc… assuming it’s not resolved within the first few episodes of Season 10, anyway. 

The Blacklist Has Been Losing Characters

While James Spader has remained at the center of The Blacklist for all ten seasons, there’s no denying that the show has had to compensate for the losses of other stars and their characters. Ryan Eggold’s Tom Keen was killed off after spinoff The Blacklist: Redemption only lasted a single season, and Mozhan Marnó left as Samar after Season 6 (although she returned as a guest in Season 9). 

Most notably, Megan Boone decided to move on from the show in Season 8, leading to the game-changer of Liz Keen being killed off. Then, at the end of Season 9, Amir Arison and Laura Sohn left as well, although Arison at least left the door open about a possible return. With all the departures in recent years, perhaps it’s best for The Blacklist to end before anybody else is ready to move on! Check out the trailer for what’s to come in Season 10:

Hopefully some of the departed actors will be able to return before the end! With The Blacklist regularly using flashbacks, it’s not inconceivable that the show could find a way to incorporate Megan Boone, if she was willing to return. For now, fans can just look forward to the Season 10 premiere and the beginning of the end. 

The Blacklist returns to NBC for its tenth and final season on Sunday, February 26 at 10 p.m. ET. There’s still time to revisit earlier episodes to see former Blacklisters who Red might have to face again in Season 10, with the first nine seasons available streaming with a Netflix subscription. 

The Blacklist’s Amir Arison left the NBC series after nine seasons last year, along with Laura Sohn, not too long after Megan Boone’s Elizabeth Keen was killed off. While the show will be back in 2023 with much of the cast returning, Arison is heading elsewhere for his return to TV as a followup to The Blacklist.

 Amir Arison has been cast in Apple’s upcoming crime drama Sinking Ship, joining lead Brian Tyree Henry, according to Deadline. The series, which comes from Peter Craig, is directed and executive produced by Ridley Scott with his Scott Free Productions. Arison is set to portray Supervisory Special Agent Mark Nader, who works in the DEA.

The eight-episode drama is based on Dennis Tafoya’s 2009 book Dope Thief and follows friends who disguise themselves as DEA agents in order to rob a house. Unfortunately, the escapade turns into a life-and-death ordeal as they accidentally uncover a big narcotics corridor used for drug trafficking. Michael Mando, Marin Ireland, and Kate Mulgrew also star in the series.

Although Amir Arison is no longer playing FBI Special Agent Aram Mojtabai on The Blacklist, he is still playing a Special Agent of some kind. His role on Sinking Ship marks his first big TV role since leaving the NBC drama. Now that he is doing a new series, a return to his former role could be out of the question for the foreseeable future. Then again, The Blacklist Season 10 has yet to premiere, so there may still be time for Aram to pop up again. The actor didn't rule out reprising his role!

Aside from The Blacklist, Arison has appeared in shows such as The Dropout, Bull, Ramy, Billions, and Girls, while movies include 20 Weeks, A Chance Encounter, and Vamps. Television and film are not his only credits, as he portrayed Amir in the Broadway version of The Kite Runner, a stage adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s 2003 book of the same name. Now he can add DEA Agent to that impressive resumé.

Meanwhile, an estimated premiere date for Sinking Ship has yet to be revealed, but it’s possible it will be part of the 2023 TV schedule later in the year. It should be interesting to see Amir Arison in this new role. With The Blacklist coming back without him, at least fans can count on seeing him somewhere on the small screen. Fingers crossed that more details release soon!

Be sure to sign up for an Apple TV+ subscription so you can watch Amir Arison in Sinking Ship when that premieres on the platform. In the meantime, check out the best Apple TV+ shows to keep you occupied in the coming months, and stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest in television and film!

Fans of The Blacklist have been waiting since all the way back in May to find out what comes next after the departures of two series regulars, and that wait isn’t over yet. News broke months ago that the long-running drama wouldn’t be back until midseason, and NBC has now announced when exactly that will be. Viewers won’t be able to tune in ASAP in January, but depending on your perspective, the date could actually be great news for the future of the show.

The Blacklist returns to NBC with the Season 10 premiere on Sunday, February 26 at 8 p.m. ET. This marks the latest of several time slot changes, as the show aired on Friday nights at 8 p.m. for the second half of Season 9. (Before that, The Blacklist had jumped from Fridays to Wednesdays to Thursdays before returning to Fridays.) This is actually the first time that the James Spader-led drama will air weekly on Sundays, and the change could be a very good thing. 

Fridays aren’t exactly known for the best network TV ratings, to the point that a move to Fridays can mean that the end is nigh. (CBS is an exception to this rule, with hit shows such as S.W.A.T. and Blue Bloods.) A move to Sundays could expose The Blacklist to a larger live audience, with more people sitting down to watch TV to close out the weekend than to begin it. That could translate to a boost in ratings, which in turn could mean that it won’t be at the mercy of budget cuts, as rumored over the summer. 

NBC is turning its Friday lineup into a comedy block, with freshman series Lopez vs. Lopez and Young Rock Season 3 taking over The Blacklist’s former slot. The drama will open Sundays on the network starting on February 26, after which it will be followed by Magnum P.I. (which was rescued by NBC after being cancelled by CBS earlier in 2022) at 9 p.m. and Shanola Hampton’s Found at 10 p.m. 

The 8 p.m. time slot may work in The Blacklist’s favor when it comes to the number of people who tune in live. As 10 p.m. shows like Chicago P.D. elsewhere on the network prove, fewer people are inclined to stay up late and bolster the Live+Same day ratings, but episodes receive boosts when totals after three days can be counted. The Blacklist (like P.D.) has traditionally done much better in delayed ratings than live. Perhaps airing early and on a more popular night will improve the size of the live audience, and give the show a second life even after losing two regulars at the end of Season 9. 

The ninth season finale said goodbye to Laura Sohn as Park and Amir Arison as Aram, although both were alive with open-ended departures. In fact, Arison wasted no time in sharing a message with fans that suggested that The Blacklist kept Aram alive for a “possible return.” Season 10 will also revisit a tragedy from Season 1 with a new series regular, so the new episodes could be rewarding for longtime fans as well as a good time to join for any who may not have been tuning in on Friday nights.

You can watch the Season 10 premiere of The Blacklist on Sunday, February 26 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, and revisit earlier episodes streaming with a Netflix subscription. For some more midseason premieres to plan on, check out our 2023 TV premiere schedule.

Even though The Blacklist was not on the list of series returning to NBC in the 2022 TV premiere schedule, the show is making sure that exciting things are coming for those who wait. After news over the summer that Season 10 would kick off with a major throwback twist, a new series regular guarantees that a tragedy from the first season will indeed be revisited. Prepare to say hello to an actress playing the daughter of the late Meera Malik! 

As longtime fans will remember, Meera Malik (played by ER alum Parminder Nagra) was a member of the Task Force back in the first season before being killed in the finale, and she was not one of the Blacklist characters lucky enough that their seeming “death” was faked. Now, Deadline reports that actress Anya Banerjee is coming to the long-running drama to play Siya Malik, the daughter of Meera Malik who has grown up to become an Intelligence Officer for MI6 as a series regular.

Meera’s daughter joining The Blacklist isn’t altogether surprising after the reports earlier this year, but Anya Banerjee’s status as a series regular means that viewers will presumably see a lot of her, and the show isn’t just revisiting the tragedy of her mother’s death in a short arc. That’s not to say that every minute of her screentime will be devoted to the death of Meera, but the initial news about Siya stated that she was expected to come to the Task Force with the goal of finding answers about the work that led to her mom’s death.

The Task Force could probably use all the help that they can get in Season 10. The Season 9 finale said goodbye to two series regulars. Laura Sohn’s exit as Grace Park was set up by the reveal that she’s pregnant and wanted to take a medical leave from the Task Force, and thinking that her life might go in some different directions. Amir Arison’s exit as Aram Mojtabai seemed less permanent, as he just wanted to take some time away from the FBI after a very difficult year, and the actor left the door open to possibly return in a message to fans.

Whether or not Aram does return, the remaining members of the Task Force could undoubtedly use the help of an MI6 agent on a regular basis, so Siya should be an important addition to Season 10. Actress Anya Banerjee is a newcomer to network television as a recent graduate of Columbia University, so there should be no preconceived notions about her as an actress. And it’s a good sign that a show heading into its tenth season is able to both revisit its earliest years and explore some fresh storylines in doing so. 

The only bad news is that fans still have a while to wait before seeing Siya in action with the returning cast of series regulars, which includes James Spader, Diego Klattenhoff, Harry Lennix, and Hisham Tawfiq. The Blacklist doesn’t return until the midseason TV schedule, which can mean as early as January 2023 and as late as March. 

That said, the majority of the show’s midseason premieres have aired in the first week of January, so hopefully we won’t have to wait too long into the new year. That at least would be a relief, in light of reports that NBC may be looking to save money in ways that could affect The Blacklist. 

If you want to revisit past episodes of The Blacklist while waiting for the Season 10 premiere, you can find the last five episodes of Season 9 streaming with a Peacock subscription and all nine seasons with a Netflix subscription.

With the fall TV schedule upon us, fans can finally look forward to their favorite shows. Though with NBC allegedly thinking about trying something new for the future that could help local stations, it could spell trouble for some fan favorites, including The Blacklist, which is about to enter its 10th season at the Peacock Network.

NBC may reportedly be following in the footsteps of networks like Fox and The CW by completely axing the 10 p.m. timeslot. The move would help the network in order to save money in an era when linear TV is less and less lucrative, per a report in the Wall Street Journal. If that were to happen, a lot of current fan-favorites would be at risk, The Blacklist included. 

In fact, The Blacklist would likely be among the shows that woould get canceled if NBC moves forward with this plan. With the series seeing the departure of Megan Boone as Elizabeth Keen in Season 8 and two departures for the Season 9 finale, it’s also the lowest-rated scripted series on the network. Having it premiere midseason for the 2022-23 season could also indicate the beginning of the end, and TVLine had previously reported Season 10 might be the last for the show anyway. 

It was recently announced that Season 10 of The Blacklist will include a Season 1 twist. With the upcoming season already including a throwback -- something many shows do during their final episodes -- this plot could be a good way to kick start a potential final season. Since the show isn't coming back until next year, there isn’t a word about when it will premiere or where in the schedule The Blacklist will be placed. The James Spader starrer has done the 10 p.m. slot four times over the course of its run, so it’s hard to tell if it'll keep the slot of 8 p.m. or move back, but regardless of where it lands this TV season, it's worth noting that would be a convenient way to cut back on programming at the end of the TV season. 

To note, the Task Force going through a major change for Season 10 of The Blacklist, as they'll be without two major players will be something to look forward to even more so if this is the end. While there are still a number of shows on NBC, with several in the 10 p.m. timeslot, it will be interesting to see what shows get the axe if the network chooses to move forward with fewer primetime slots. Fox and The CW have proven successful by giving their local affiliates more airtime, so it’s a definite possibility. But less shows mean less content. 

It's also worth noting the network has dominated Wednesday and Thursday nights with a full three hours of its One Chicago and Law & Order franchises, respectively, and has done well with shows like New Amsterdam and The Blacklist in the later hour. So if we have to say goodbye to that third primetime slot, what else will get cut? 

As of now, it’s not confirmed if NBC will move through with cutting the latest primetime slot, and if the network did, it would likely happen for the 2023-24 season. So rest assured, The Blacklist is sticking around for now, though again Season 10 won’t be premiering until midseason. 

The future of The Blacklist looks very different after the Season 9 finale said goodbye to two series regulars, but now it turns out that Season 10 will go on a blast to the past… sort of. The new season will kick off with a throwback twist to Season 1 and the death of Meera Malik, played by Parminder Nagra. The long-running drama found a creative way to do it. 

The Blacklist Season 10 will introduce the daughter of Meera Malik, named Siya Malik, according to TVLine. Siya is an MI6 intelligence officer who will reportedly come to what remains of the task force after losing Aram and Park. She’s on a mission to find answers about her mom’s death… and the work that led to it. 

The character hasn’t been cast yet, but it’s probably safe to say that Season 10 will include scenes from Season 1 featuring Parminder Nagra (also known for Bend It Like Beckham and ER) to refresh fans who may not remember all the details about Meera’s life and death. It would be nice to see Nagra again in Season 10 via some fresh flashbacks that bring the actress back, but we can only speculate for now. 

Unfortunately, fans will have to wait much longer for the return of The Blacklist than many of NBC’s other hit shows, which will be back before the end of the year in the 2022 TV schedule. The network is holding Season 10 of The Blacklist until midseason, which means a premiere in early 2023. 

This won’t be the first time that a season has been held; Season 6 premiered in January of 2019. All of the other seasons premiered in September, October, or November. Season 10 hasn’t received an official premiere date yes, but is likely to be fairly early on in the new year. NBC programming for The Blacklist and more hit shows was complicated earlier this year by the 2022 Winter Olympics, and the Olympics won’t be a factor in midseason 2023. 

The arrival of Meera Malik’s daughter in Season 10 could pack an emotional punch for the characters, as The Blacklist has managed to hold onto several of its stars from the very beginning. Although Megan Boone’s Liz Keen was killed off and there is no guarantee that Amir Arison will reprise his role as Aram despite his comments when he left, James Spader (Red), Diego Klattenhoff (Ressler), Harry Lennix (Cooper), and Hisham Tawfiq (Dembe) have all been around since the first season. 

There is plenty of time to speculate, but hopefully the identity of who will play Siya Malik will be revealed before January of next year. In the meantime, you can revisit the first season of The Blacklist featuring Parminder Nagra as Meera with a Netflix subscription. The first eight seasons are streaming on Netflix, and you can find the final episodes of Season 9 streaming with a Peacock subscription now. 

Megan Boone was a familiar face on NBC for the better part of a decade as the leading lady of The Blacklist, before she decided to leave in 2021 and her character was killed off in the Season 8 finale. While Liz Keen’s death means that Boone is unlikely to return to her former show (even while that show continues to be affected by the loss), the actress is returning to the small screen with her first TV follow-up role. But she’s not so busy that she couldn’t take the time to congratulate former co-star Amir Arison on his new gig! 

Megan Boone’s New TV Role

Megan Boone is returning to network television as part of the cast of the upcoming Fox anthology drama Accused, according to Deadline. The role is part of her deal at Sony Pictures Television, which produces her new show (and produced The Blacklist as well). Boone stars in one chapter of the anthology as Jenny, who along with her husband Max (played by Locke & Key’s Aaron Ashmore) wants a child. Their surrogate is Ava (Stephanie Nogueras of Killing It), a Deaf woman who will pursue advocacy and protection to the point of committing a crime. 

The chapter tapped two other Deaf actors in addition to Nogueras, with Joshua Castille of The Detour and Lauren Ridloff of The Walking Dead as well. Also joining the cast are Daphne Rubin-Vega of In the Heights and Jean-Michel Le Gal of Take This Waltz. The episode will be directed by Marlee Matlin, who had a key role in front of the camera for the Academy Award-winning film CODA. 

Accused received a straight-to-series order back in May 2021, and each episode opens on a courtroom without viewers having any details about the accused’s alleged crime. The project is an anthology series, so this presumably won’t be Megan Boone’s return to TV as a series regular after The Blacklist, but fans of the actress can still look forward to seeing her on the small screen again. 

The series order was for the 2022-2023 TV season, but Accused isn’t on Fox’s schedule for the fall. As for Boone, she is apparently looking forward to her former co-star’s new gig after leaving the small screen, as she shared a sweet post for Amir Arison.

Megan Boone Congratulates Her Former Co-Star

Megan Boone was followed out the door at The Blacklist just one year later, with Amir Arison and one other series regular departing after the Season 9 finale. While there are still questions about what losing Aram and Park means for Season 10, the actor wasted no time in explaining why he was bowing out of his longtime show. 

Arison landed a starring role in the Broadway production of The Kite Runner, which he described as “the opportunity to fulfill another childhood dream.” Megan Boone shared her own excitement on social media with an Instagram post to congratulate him. Take a look:

They may not be co-stars anymore, but Megan Boone shared some love for Amir Arison by posting a photo of his profile in The New York Times and expressing excitement for his opening night. She didn’t specify if or when she’ll be able to see The Kite Runner for herself, but Arison clearly has her support whether or not she makes it into the audience. 

If you want to revisit their time on The Blacklist together, you can find the first eight seasons streaming with a Netflix subscription. For some more viewing options now and in the coming weeks, be sure to check out our 2022 TV premiere schedule.

Peacock is one of many streaming services that has popped up over the last few years, providing plenty of content for those who are fans of both NBC shows as well as brand new original programming, too. While there are plenty of awesome things to watch with a Peacock subscription, these are personally what I would consider some of the best shows that the site has to offer, all of which are streaming on Peacock right now, as of June 2022. 

The Office (2005-2013)

The Office is a popular sitcom that features a group of employees at Dunder Mifflin Paper Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where they have to live their day to day work lives with their less-than-amazing, but okay-ish boss, Michael Scott. 

The Office has truly withstood the test of time as one of the most popular sitcoms ever, with a devoted fan base even now that it’s been off the air for nearly a decade. There are adorable relationships, including the famous Jim and Pam romance, some hysterical moments that will truly make you laugh, and an incredible The Office cast who are some of the best the TV world has to offer. This show is one of NBC’s best. 

Stream The Office on Peacock.

Bel-Air (2022 - Present)

A Peacock original, Bel-Air, which is based on the iconic Will Smith-starring sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, is a dramatic retelling of the story of Will (Jabari Banks) from Philadelphia, who, after getting into a fight, is sent off to live with his rich relatives in a mansion in Bel-Air, California in the hope that having more opportunities will keep him out of trouble. 

While some would say that the show may take itself too seriously considering the original series was a much more lighthearted comedy, I personally love Bel-Air as a fan of the original, and can’t wait for Season 2. 

Stream Bel-Air on Peacock.

Psych (2006-2014)

In this hilarious sitcom, Psych follows sleuth Shawn Spencer (James Roday), who is able to con his way into work with his local police department when he fools them into believing he is a psychic. Now, it’s up to him and his best friend to solve these mysteries, despite him not actually having any strange powers. With several movies as well, and a plethora of running jokes, Psych is a hilarious show to watch. 

Stream Psych on Peacock.

Baking It (2021)

If you want a feel-good baking show, check out Baking It. Starring SNL alums Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg, this competition show puts several bakers against one another during the holiday season so they can win the ultimate prize: $50,000. 

Stream Baking It on Peacock.

Parks And Recreation (2009 - 2015)

Another classic NBC show, Parks and Recreation, starring Amy Poehler, is all about Leslie Knope who works at the Parks Department of Pawnee, and tries with all her might to bring about changes to her town, alongside her sometimes wacky co-workers. 

The Parks and Recreation cast is hilarious, filled with plenty of stars, and will surely make you laugh until your side hurts. There are so many amazing episodes that will either have you smiling so wide that your face will grow sore, or have you crying so hard that your chest will hurt (happy cries, I swear). Either way, Parks and Recreation is amazing, and if you haven’t watched it yet, be sure to do so. There’s even a reunion out now, as well, with a ton of cameos. 

Stream Parks and Recreation on Peacock.

We Are Lady Parts (2021- Present)

Next is We Are Lady Parts. In this sitcom, we follow a group of Muslim women in England who have come together to form a punk band, watching as they attempt to not only succeed in the music industry but in their own personal lives, as well, one funny and sometimes heart-warming scenario at a time. 

Stream We Are Lady Parts on Peacock.

One Of Us Is Lying (2021)

The next Peacock original on this list is One Of Us Is Lying. Based on the novel of the same name, we see five students who never crossed paths beforehand end up in detention one Saturday afternoon - but only four emerge. Now, we're presented with a mystery as we try to find out which one is lying about the death of one of their classmates. 

Stream One Of Us Is Lying on Peacock.

Yellowstone (2018 - Present)

The incredibly popular TV series, Yellowstone, is a neo-Western that follows the story of the Dutton family, the people who won the largest ranch in Montana, called “the Yellowstone.” Through four seasons (with a fifth releasing as part of the 2022 TV schedule later this year), we watch this family as they have conflicts with other ranch owners, the outside world, and more. 

Stream Yellowstone on Peacock.

The Blacklist (2013 - Present)

Next up, we have The Blacklist. This crime thriller starring James Spader follows Raymond “Red” Reddington, a criminal who ends up becoming an FBI informant when he reveals he has a list of the most dangerous criminals. With nine seasons, and already renewed for a tenth, this show will keep you interested all the way through. 

Stream The Blacklist on Peacock.

Bates Motel (2013 - 2017)

A spinoff of Psycho, the iconic Alfred Hitchcock film, Bates Motel tells the story of Norman and Norma Bates (Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga), and the twisted story behind their legendary Bates Motel, and how Norman became the killer that we all know today - and how his mother played a key role in his behavior. 

Stream Bates Motel on Peacock.

Girls5eva (2021 - Present)

Another Peacock original, Girls5eva is a musical comedy that follows the story of five women who were once a part of a one-hit wonder girl group. But now, years later after they have been on a hiatus for some time and all feeling like they could do more with their lives, they decide to come back together for their next big hit. With a stellar Girls5eva cast, this show features the musical and acting talent to back up the premise. 

Stream Girls5eva on Peacock.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2013 - 2021)

Next up, we have Brooklyn Nine-Nine. In this popular series, Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) is a detective at the fictitious 99th Precinct in Brooklyn, NY, and often clashes with not only his co-workers, but his captain (Andre Braugher). 

This series has become a fan-favorite amongst many viewers, and honestly, I can see why, as there’s nothing quite like watching a group of detectives and cops try and pull off these incredible feats of police work and still somehow finding a way to make you laugh. With a hilarious Brooklyn Nine-Nine cast and some stellar comedic timing, this workplace comedy will become one of your favorite shows next. 

Stream Brooklyn Nine-Nine on Peacock.

Charmed (1998 - 2006)

If you’re looking for a magical fantasy series, check out the original Charmed. In this show, we follow a group of sisters known as The Charmed Ones, good witches whose main goal in life is to defeat those who perform evil magic, such as warlocks or demons. The original Charmed cast can’t be beat, and the drama and romances that evolve over its eight seasons are truly iconic. 

Stream Charmed on Peacock.

Killing It (2022 - Present)

Another Peacock original on here, Killing It stars comedian and actor Craig Robinson in one of his funniest roles yet. Playing Craig, he is looking to achieve what we all want in life - the American dream. So, in order to do so, he decides to enter the Florida Python Challenge so he can win $20,000, something that would change the man’s life. The only catch? He has to kill as many snakes as possible.

Stream Killing It on Peacock.

Dr. Death (2021)

The last Peacock original on this list, we take a look at Dr. Death. In this crime drama that is based on the podcast of the same name, we take a look at the very real career of doctor Christopher Duntsch, a neurosurgeon who was anything but a good man, becoming infamous over time for mutilating his patients - sometimes to the point where his surgeries killed them. Starring Joshua Jackson, this series is a dark but intriguing watch, and will have you on the edge of your seat.  

Stream Dr. Death on Peacock.

America’s Got Talent (2006 - Present)

Last but not least, we have the famous competition show that is now in Season 17, America’s Got Talent. Featuring a panel of judges currently consisting of Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum, Sophia Vergara, and Simon Cowell, we see the best of what America has to offer in terms of talent, whether that be singing and dancing to magic acts and dangerous feats of athleticism. 

There have been many famous winners of AGT who have gone on to do great things - could you be next? 

Stream America’s Got Talent on Peacock.

This is just the beginning of some of the best shows that Peacock has to offer, but if you’re looking for something to start off on when you get that Peacock subscription, these are my personal picks. Now, if you don’t mind me, I’m going to go and re-watch The Office for the millionth time.  

The ninth season of The Blacklist has come to a thrilling end on NBC. While it wasn’t quite as bloody of a finale for the Task Force as the one that closed Season 8 and killed off Elizabeth Keen, it did deliver the departures of two series regulars: Amir Arison and Laura Sohn, who respectively play Aram and Park. Arison had been a key part of the show going back to the very first season, and the actor explained his decision to leave in a touching message to fans.

The Blacklist said an official goodbye to both Aram and Park in the Season 9 finale, although without killing either of them off. While Park was stepping away from the Task Force due to her headaches and her pregnancy following a miscarriage earlier in the season, Aram made the decision that he needed to take some time away to just live his life and spend some time in New York with no plans or missions to have to worry about. According to Amir Arison in his Twitter message, his real reason for bowing out of The Blacklist also involves New York. He wrote: 

Amir Arison was certainly successful when it came to his goal of joining a great series, and not many actors are lucky enough to play a meaty role on an action-packed network TV show for the better part of a decade. Even as he gave a special mention to creator Jon Bokenkamp (who departed The Blacklist at the end of Season 8 along with actress Megan Boone), he made it clear that his dream of Broadway hadn’t died, and he had the opportunity to star in a stage adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kind Runner, which was a huge hit as a novel and spawned a 2007 movie of the same name. 

According to Arison, he couldn’t pass up the chance to be part of the Broadway adaptation as a fulfillment of a childhood dream by joining a “breathtaking” production. The actor is top-billed in the project, which was adapted by playwright Matthew Spangler. The website for the production also reveals that The Kite Runner will run for 17 weeks only, from July 6 to October 30. So, does that mean that Aram could be back when The Blacklist returns, considering that Season 10 isn’t arriving until 2023? Arison continued, addressing Aram’s future on the show:

Only time will tell whether or not Amir Arison returns to The Blacklist as Aram, but the actor mentioning the character’s potential return in the same message that explains his farewell seems to bode well for fans to get to see Aram again. The character certainly earned a break after Season 9, which revealed not only how eventful the time jump was for him in the wake of Liz’s death, but also all the new challenges he had to face with the new Task Force and repercussions of Cooper being framed.

For now, you can revisit Aram’s earlier days on The Blacklist via streaming services. Fans with a Netflix subscription can find the first eight seasons, with Amir Arison’s debut as the future fan-favorite in the third episode of Season 1. For more recent episodes of what currently stands as Arison’s final season as a series regular, be sure to check out a Peacock subscription. 

Spoilers ahead for the Season 9 finale of The Blacklist, called “Marvin Gerard: Conclusion Part 2.”

If there’s any show on television that can be relied upon to deliver finales to leave fans hanging over hiatus, The Blacklist qualifies. The Season 9 finale had some important stories to resolve within the span of an hour – whether or not Cooper would be going to prison, whether or not Red would get to Marvin before the Task Force, even whether or not Park’s headaches would take her out of the field, to name just a few. As it turns out, the episode resolved these stories while setting up some high-stakes new ones for Season 10… and also saying goodbye to two key characters.

The good news is that the departing characters aren’t going to be missing Season 10 because they were killed off, but because the actors decided to move on, and their characters got reasonably happy endings. (At least, living endings!) Series regulars Amir Arison (who has had a heavy season both in the present and via flashbacks as Aram) and Laura Sohn (whose Park has had struggles with health and loss all season) are officially out of The Blacklist, according to Deadline. Their departures come just one season after longtime leading lady Megan Boone bowed out of the show. 

Luckily, both characters received less permanent endings in the Season 9 finale than Liz did with her death at the end of Season 8. Aram decided to “take some time away” from the FBI, and he has no plans other than moving to “a cool place in Brooklyn” where he can ride his bike, enjoy New York, eat some pizza, check out Broadway, and just not deal with the stressors of the Task Force. 

The mention of New York and Broadway may have actually been a nod to why the actor decided to leave The Blacklist. He landed a role in the Broadway stage adaptation of The Kite Runner, which is both an exciting development for him as an actor and not something that means he’ll absolutely be gone from The Blacklist forever. Aram is alive, so fans’ hopes for more of him can live on as well! Arison was one of the show’s longest-running remaining cast members, as he was part of the team going back to Season 1. 

As for Park, she had an announcement as well. Her appointment with an FBI neurologist to determine whether or not her worsening headaches would keep her out of the field for good yielded some unexpected results: her headaches are getting worse because she’s pregnant. After she suffered a miscarriage early in Season 9 due to an attack, learning that she’s pregnant – and clearly being happy about it – is a nice way to cap off Park’s story. 

It’s not clear if her headaches will be gone and she could return to the field after giving birth, but she said that she wanted to take a medical leave from the Task Force “until we know for sure,” and that “maybe life’s got other plans” for her. Laura Sohn decided to leave The Blacklist to pursue different projects. She was part of the show for three seasons, recurring in Season 7 before being bumped up to series regular status in Season 8. 

So, what does that mean for Season 10? Red actually decided that he would be stepping away as well, although only for a few weeks after the whole ordeal with investigating Liz’s death and then orchestrating Marvin’s suicide. For his sake, we can only hope that he takes his break pretty far off the grid, considering that Marvin outed him as a C.I. who has helped put away a whole lot of criminals to a very deadly man, who escaped from prison and now has the goal of killing Red and a list of Blacklisters who will probably be more than happy to help him out. 

And the Task Force won’t have Aram and Park on hand to help with the inevitable fallout next season! Unfortunately, fans are in for a wait to find out how the Task Force carries on after these cast departures and the bombshell reveal about Red to all the wrong people. The Blacklist doesn’t return for Season 10 until early 2023 as part of NBC’s midseason lineup. 

The midseason premiere leads me to wonder if the show will deliver another time jump, or pick up exactly where it left off. For now, you can always revisit the earlier seasons of the series with a Netflix subscription, or head over to our 2022 TV premiere schedule for some viewing options between now and Season 10. 

The Blacklist Season 9 is coming to an end, marking the conclusion of the first season without Elizabeth Keen. That said, Liz’s legacy has been alive and well throughout the episodes, and the reveal that the man behind her death after a long search was Red’s longtime lawyer guaranteed that Red was going to take it more personally than ever. As of the end of the penultimate episode, Red wants Marvin Gerard dead, while the Task Force needs him alive to clear Cooper’s name. In a clip from the Season 9 finale (seen above), the Task Force catches a break in hunting him down. But can they catch him?

Marvin’s escape should have been prevented when the airport was shut down, but he was in the wind despite what seemed like a surefire arrest before Red could get to him. Instead, the Task Force can’t find him… until Aram comes to a conclusion that helps them catch a break. The situation isn’t that they lost track of Marvin while he’s still at the airport, or that he somehow managed to take off before all flights were grounded. It’s that his getaway plane was never able to land to pick him up, and was diverted to a private airfield 30 miles away. 

They now have the location where Marvin is undoubtedly heading, and even though he presumably has a head start on them, this could be the break that they need. Dembe flying solo doesn’t necessarily bode well, but hopefully Ressler – who has had a rough season in the wake of Liz’s death – will touch down and meet up in time to help. The Task Force needed Aram’s expertise and tech genius (which they were fortunate to get back after his time in the private sector during the time jump), so if they’re lucky, Red doesn’t have the same information. 

It wasn’t that long ago that Red and the Task Force would have helped each other out in chasing down Marvin, but their goals aren’t exactly aligned anymore. Red has vengeance on his mind since Marvin set the wheels in motion to have Liz killed rather than let Red pass his business over to her, while Cooper’s name may not be cleared if Marvin is dead. That would be bad news for the Task Force as well as young Agnes in addition to Cooper, who has been dealing with being framed for nearly the whole season. Based on the episode description, fans are in for a wild ride as everything comes to a head: 

The “conflicting endgames” likely refers to Red wanting Marvin dead and Cooper needing him alive, but the “major secret” falling into the wrong hands may not bode well for the Task Force. Tune in to NBC on Friday, May 27 to catch the Season 9 finale of The Blacklist!

Whether or not the finale ends with some big unanswered questions remains to be seen, but the very good news is that even if Season 9 ends on a killer cliffhanger, fans don’t need to worry about the future of the show. The Blacklist has already been renewed for Season 10, although the show won’t return until early 2023. For now, you can check out our 2022 TV premiere schedule for some viewing options during the hiatus. 

Fans of The Blacklist may not have to worry about the future of the NBC crime thriller, as it was renewed for a 10th season back in February. However, after seeing the series' Season 9 move from Fridays to Thursdays, then back to Fridays again, fans may continue struggling to keep up with when the James Spader-led drama is airing. Now, NBC has announced its fall schedule plans, and The Blacklist is not even scheduled to return this September. Rather, Season 10 will see its premiere arrive in the midseason.

The Blacklist recently answered a huge question in who killed Liz Keen and why. Two episodes remain for the ninth season, however, and the longtime NBC series is known to go big for its finales and their big reveals. Sure, it’s good to know that whatever cliffhangers audiences are left with after the Season 9 finale on May 27 will presumably be resolved in Season 10, but it’s a bummer that fans won’t get those answers until early 2023.  

Red Reddington and the Task Force have proven to have maintained some loyal fans, who not only carried the series through multiple seasons in its traditionally dreaded Friday primetime slot, but also stuck with it through its various other changes in recent years. On top of that, fans also weathered the exit of Megan Boone and creator and showrunner Jon Bokenkamp after eight seasons, to the point where the show exceeded expectations by lasting beyond its Liz-free ninth season. 

At this point, The Blacklist fanbase would probably be suspicious if NBC aired two seasons in a row that didn't feature a major scheduling shake-up. To be sure, while The Blacklist's ratings stats have bounced around over the years, the drama has earned annual boosts from delayed viewership to help with its everchanging airtimes, so everyone at least knows where to find the show after the fact. 

Along with The Blacklist, NBC announced a couple of other returning series whose returns will also be held until the new year: the sitcoms American Auto and Grand Crew, both of which were just recently renewed for second seasons. As well, that's when we'll get our eyeballs on the network revival of Night Court. 

American Auto — the latest series from Superstore creator Justin Spitzer — had been expected to receive a renewal. Starring Ana Gasteyer, Harriet Dyer and Jon Barinholtz, the sitcom focuses on the employees of Detroit-based Payne Motors who are struggling with a new CEO amidst a rapidly changing industry. 

Grand Crew’s future was less certain, as TVLine reports the first 10-episode season averaged shy of 2 million total weekly viewers, along with a 0.4 demo rating (including Live + 7 playback). The series stars Echo Kellum, Justin Cunningham, Grasie Mercedes, Carl Tart, Aaron Jennings and Nicole Byer as a group of Black friends who unpack the ups and downs of life and love at a wine bar.

Finally, Night Court, a sequel to the beloved sitcom from the 1980s and ‘90s, will also debut midseason. The series stars and is executive produced by Melissa Rauch, with John Larroquette reprising his role as District Attorney Dan Fielding from the original series. 

Fans of The Blacklist have proven their patience with the series before, and that will be tested again. However, at least there are still two episodes remaining before the long hiatus. The Blacklist returns for its penultimate Season 9 episode at 8 p.m. ET Friday, May 20, on NBC, ahead of its May 27 finale. Check out our full list of spring finales to be sure you don’t miss anything big, and also look at our 2022 TV Schedule to see what premieres are coming soon.

The Blacklist is quickly approaching the Season 9 finale, and with a lot of questions that are still unanswered, the stakes are just getting higher and higher. On the heels of an intense installment for Aram last week, the new episode on May 13 will see Red hot on the trail of getting some answers. An exclusive clip from the episode (seen above) reveals that he’s just “inches away” from getting what he needs, but it’ll take the help of Dembe and the Task Force to pull the con off. 

The new episode on May 13 is called “Caelum Bank,” and this wouldn’t be The Blacklist if the case was going to be as simple as robbing a brick and mortar bank. (And Red isn’t exactly after money.) This is a bank on a plane that operates under strict secrecy, and according to Aram – who certainly knows his way around technology – is pretty much impossible to hack from the outside. 

Still, the Task Force needs to make this impossible task possible for Red’s goal of getting the answers he needs from the bank’s president. For Red, getting the account information will take him one step closer to finding Liz’s killer, which is his clear priority at this point. 

Dembe’s focus is clear as well, although his top priority doesn’t have anything to do with Liz’s death, but rather helping Harold Cooper. After being framed for murder early in Season 9, Cooper has run into obstacle after obstacle in his attempts to clear his own name, and Dembe is a valuable ally for him to have in his corner. Red’s whole scheme seems to rely on getting the bank president down on the ground at some point, and he’ll evidently need the Task Force’s help for that. 

The clip doesn’t reveal exactly what Red’s plan is for getting the plane on the ground, but Dembe confirms that “the FAA isn’t going to like it.” It does look like the team is on board to pitch in, and Dembe intends to make sure that the FBI gets custody of the man as soon as Red gets the information that he needs. 

All things considered, the episode is primed to potentially deliver some answers that Red needs to connect dots to Liz’s killer. With just two episodes left in Season 9 after “Caelum Bank," there may be some real forward progress to set up how the season will wrap things up. The Blacklist has already been renewed for Season 10, so fans don’t have to worry that the end is coming just yet, no matter how the current season ends. 

For now, be sure to tune in to The Blacklist on Friday, May 13 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC to catch the “Caelum Bank” episode of Season 9. The finale airs on Friday, May 27, and it’s almost always safe to assume that The Blacklist finds a way to go big for its finales. If you’ve missed some recent episodes and want to catch up, you can do so with a Peacock subscription now.

Season 9 of The Blacklist has been eventful for Aram, to say the very least. Like other members of the Task Force, his life took him in a very different direction than he was used to after the tragedy Liz’s death. Unlike others (and certainly unlike Ressler), however, he had a lot to give up in order to return to his job at the FBI. Now, the next episode will finally provide some background on what kept Aram busy during those years of the time jump, and an exclusive episode clip (seen above) reveals his “million dollar idea.”

As shown in the flashback clip, the episode of The Blacklist that airs on April 22 – called “El Conejo” – will reveal what exactly Aram was up to in his life two years ago. The time jump between the end of Season 8 and beginning of Season 9 was two years, so this version of Aram is understandably still mourning the tragic death of Liz and the loss of the life he knew as part of the FBI’s Task Force. Fans already knew that Aram left the Bureau and began developing some very lucrative tech in the private sector; the new episode clip reveals that it was some “offensive” software rather than defensive. 

He doesn’t find the most sympathetic friend in Nick, but Aram didn’t go to Nick looking for sympathy, and he had no trouble drumming up interest in turning his idea into a business. In fact, Nick considered it a “billion dollar idea.” It looks like Aram might have given up even more than was clear earlier in Season 9, when he decided to return to the FBI! Aram looks thrilled by the end of the scene, in a complete turnaround from how he looked at the beginning, but a lot plainly happened for him over the rest of the two-year time jump. 

And if the episode description is any indication about his storyline in “El Conejo,” he’s in for a rough ride with the next new case. The official description of the episode from NBC reveals that this could be a very personal case for the Task Force, and they’ll need Red’s help to get out of it. The description reads: 

This episode comes on the heels of Aram being promoted to Cooper’s former position, after Cooper’s efforts to catch his blackmailer and avoid going down for a murder he didn’t commit ultimately failed. The hits kept on coming for Cooper, so it’s possible that he won’t be much help for the capture in “El Conejo,” which may be bad news for Aram.  

Red has of course been occupied with trying to solve Liz’s murder, which has been a mystery spanning almost an entire season. With the finale fast-approaching in the 2022 TV schedule, it may be time to start wondering if the mystery will be solved at all before the end of Season 9. 

Fortunately, The Blacklist has already been renewed for Season 10, so the story can continue beyond the upcoming finale. For now, though, you can look forward to the “El Conejo” episode of The Blacklist on Friday, April 22 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. For when the long-running drama and plenty of of other shows will wrap for the season, check out our schedule of big spring TV finales!

The Blacklist started the current ninth season off in a brand new way with a big time jump following the death of Liz Keen, and it has only gotten more complicated for Cooper after he was quite convincingly framed for murder. He's being blackmailed, and only really has Lew to confide in. In an exclusive clip from the upcoming episode that airs on March 25 (seen above), Lew brings an intriguing lead to Cooper, but it's already complicated for him as the plot thickens. 

Lew sums up Cooper's unfortunate situation with the blackmail: he was drugged, framed for murder, caught in a lie, lacking in leads, and the one possible woman who could help went AWOL. But they finally caught a lucky break, as Lew has located the woman who could have some much-needed information. The problem? This woman is presumably an innocent bystander, and Cooper doesn't want to bring her into "this mess" that has turned deadly more than once. 

Lew makes the point that the woman is already at risk and could be the "piece of the puzzle" to clear his name of committing the murder that started the whole mess earlier in Season 9. Although the clip ends with Cooper still not looking entirely convinced, the description for the episode – called "Genuine Models Inc." – reveals that Cooper is heading down to Atlanta to pursue this lead, while the Task Force is on a case of wealthy clients dying after making use of an escort service, while Red is joined by a friend at a memorial. 

While this lead is arguably the most promising that Cooper has had for a while – as least insofar as the woman seemed to escape to safety and is still alive – this wouldn't be The Blacklist if everything goes swimmingly for him in Atlanta. It should be interesting to see if Lew goes with him down south. Lew has a knack for encouraging Cooper to bend the rules, while Cooper might prioritize the woman's safety over finding his blackmailer. 

All things considered, "Genuine Models Inc." appears to be an exciting episode of The Blacklist for Cooper, so be sure to tune in to NBC on Friday, March 25 at 8 p.m. ET in the 2022 TV schedule to see what happens next with this lead against his blackmailer. The show moved back to Friday nights in 2022 following the end of the Olympics, after starting the season on Thursday nights ahead of Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime. It did well on Fridays in earlier seasons, so the Season 9 switch back could be a good thing moving forward.

Plus, The Blacklist is guaranteed to keep moving forward for at least one more season, as NBC renewed the drama for a tenth season back in February. Few shows are able to last that long on network television, although NBC has found some other long-running hits in recent years with shows like Chicago Fire and (of course) Law & Order: SVU. With how successful The Blacklist has been in delayed viewership and ratings, a Season 10 on the way isn't too surprising. 

The Blacklist returned to NBC for Season 9 with some big changes: leading lady Elizabeth Keen had been killed off, creator Jon Bokenkamp had departed, and it was officially airing on a new night. The show technically moved off of its normal Friday night time slot for the last two episodes of Season 8, but it was officially airing in the enviable time slot on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET to kick off the 2021-2022 TV season ahead of the Law & Order shows. Now, however, NBC is moving The Blacklist back to Fridays, and that could be for the best for some key reasons. 

The Blacklist Does Well On Fridays

Friday nights are generally not the hottest time for television, and it sometimes feels that shows that are moved to Fridays are basically sent there to die. When The Blacklist was moved to Fridays starting with Season 6, the ratings did dip pretty drastically, but not to the point that the show got the axe. Although the numbers were worse, they were not bad for Friday nights (via SpoilerTV), and stayed fairly consistent through to Season 8, until its final two episodes somewhat tanked the season average. 

For most shows, moving from a Thursday slot leading into two of the network’s biggest hits to a Friday slot would be a bad sign; for The Blacklist, it’s more or less a return to normal. Prior to the beginning of Season 9, The Blacklist had never aired on Thursdays at 8 p.m. The end isn’t necessarily nigh for The Blacklist just because of the move, and the numbers could actually improve. It regularly experiences boosts in delayed viewership as well. 

The Blacklist Isn't Moving To Fridays Because It's Failing

While I can’t say whether or not NBC would move the show back to Fridays if it suddenly became primetime’s biggest hit on Thursdays, NBC isn’t bumping The Blacklist back just to give the slot to a randomly chosen other drama. Starting on February 24 in the 2022 TV schedule, the network will air the Law & Order revival on Thursdays at 8 p.m., creating a full night of Law & Order action by using the original to lead into Law & Order: SVU at 9 p.m. and then Law & Order: Organized Crime at 10 p.m. 

The goal seems to be to create a solid block for Law & Order Thursdays like what NBC has successfully going on Wednesdays with the three shows of One Chicago, and that had to mean The Blacklist getting the bump to another night. Since it already proved that it could do well enough to warrant renewals on Fridays and considering the inevitability of another Law & Order show, it was only natural that NBC move it back there. 

The Blacklist Will Have Less Competition On Fridays

Friday night just isn’t the hottest night of television, which means that networks generally keep their biggest hits for Sundays – Thursdays. Unfortunately for The Blacklist for the first half of the 2021-2022 TV season, airing on a Thursday at 8 p.m. put it up against Grey’s Anatomy spinoff Station 19, which has been successful on ABC Thursdays for quite some time. In fact, the ratings numbers for The Blacklist’s and Station 19's current seasons (via SpoilerTV) prove that the three strongest episodes of The Blacklist Season 9 have been on nights when Station 19 Season 5 had not yet returned from its winter hiatus. 

The 8 p.m. hour on Thursdays is strong for CBS and Fox as well, with Young Sheldon starting the night for CBS and Joe Millionaire as Fox’s take on The Bachelor winning audiences over with its first season back on TV. There just aren’t as many options on Fridays, and that can work in The Blacklist’s favor. 

Unfortunately, fans have some time to wait before seeing what happens next for Red and Co. on The Blacklist. Like NBC’s biggest hits, the show is on a brief hiatus for the Winter Olympics to take over primetime, but it will be back with more of Season 9 on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET starting on February 25. 

The Olympics come to NBC every two years (under normal circumstances without the delays that pushed the Tokyo Summer Games to 2021), which means that the normal TV lineup goes through some changes. Now, the 2022 Winter Games are fast approaching, and some of TV’s biggest hits (including Chicago Fire and its sister series Med and P.D.) are heading into a hiatus that will leave fans waiting longer than usual for new episodes.

The 2022 Winter Olympics begin on Friday, February 4 and run through Sunday, February 20, and NBC is going all-in on the Beijing Games throughout the month. That’s great news for fans of watching the best athletes in the world go head-to-head at winter sports, but not so great for fans waiting for their favorite shows to return. So, let’s take a look at some of the biggest NBC shows and/or fan favorites that have been officially impacted by the Olympics, and when they’ll be back. 

• This Is Us - returns Tuesday, February 22 at 9 p.m. ET
• New Amsterdam - returns Tuesday, February 22 at 10 p.m. ET
• Chicago Med - returns Wednesday, February 23 at 8 p.m. ET
• Chicago Fire - returns Wednesday, February 23 at 9 p.m. ET
• Chicago P.D. - returns Wednesday, February 23 at 10 p.m. ET
• Law & Order: SVU - returns Thursday, February 24 at 9 p.m. ET
• Law & Order: Organized Crime - returns Thursday, February 24 at 10 p.m. ET
• The Blacklist - returns Friday, February 25 at 8 p.m. ET (NEW TIME)

NBC is also bringing back the original Law & Order for a revival featuring some familiar faces on February 24 after the Olympics, taking over the 8 p.m. ET time slot on Thursdays and sending The Blacklist back to Fridays, which may actually be good for the James Spader show, as it hasn’t quite thrived on Thursday nights. The network also saved some other new shows for late February and beyond, including American Song Contest and The Endgame on February 21. 

There is some bad news for New Amsterdam fans, although not entirely tied to the Olympics. The medical drama will only return briefly after the 2022 Games, as the miniseries The Thing About Pam will take over the 10 p.m. ET time slot on Tuesdays for six weeks starting on March 8, leaving New Amsterdam on hiatus until April 19.

As for fans of all the other shows that are currently on a break until nearly the end of February… well, hopefully the Olympics will be worth watching to fill the time! As of the end of 2021 (which was before This Is Us returned for its sixth and final season), all three shows of One Chicago and both current Law & Order series ranked in the top ten of all TV programs of the fall season, so NBC will be missing its biggest dramas. That’s not to say that NBC will suffer in the ratings, however; plenty of people will be tuning in to the Olympics. 

Other networks will have shows on hiatus through the bulk of February as well, although the non-NBC networks didn’t specify whether or not the break is due to the Olympics. ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19 don’t even return in 2022 until February 24 to deliver on some midseason finale cliffhangers. NCIS: Hawai’i is scheduled for reruns for several weeks, and it’s likely that NCIS (which leads into the Hawai’i-set spinoff on Monday nights) will do the same on CBS. 

Also on CBS, the three FBI shows will return for one more episode on February 1 before going for some weeks of reruns. The Eye Network is debuting the third season of Celebrity Big Brother in early February, however, so there are exceptions to big TV hits going on breaks during the bulk of February. To nail down some important dates for the coming weeks and months, be sure to check out our 2022 TV schedule.

Warning: spoilers ahead for the January 20 episode of The Blacklist, called “Boukman Baptiste.”

The Blacklist wrapped Season 8 on arguably the biggest twist in the show’s history when the departure of Megan Boone was handled by killing off Liz Keen, leaving her to die in Red’s arms with Ressler watching from a distance and Dembe trying to hustle Red away. Even with the two-year time jump between the end of Season 8 and beginning of Season 9, Liz’s death still cast a shadow on the characters, but it’s starting to look like they may be ready to start moving on from mourning her. 

“Boukman Baptiste” split the story between chasing down some bad guys in the present while telling the flashback story of how Dembe went from Red’s #2 in the Season 8 finale to an FBI agent in the Season 9 premiere. It was clear at the beginning that both Red and Dembe himself still blamed Dembe for leading VanDyke to Elizabeth and therefore her death, and Red didn’t even want Dembe contributing to a case when Dembe had expertise on the matter. 

By the end, however, Red reached out to help Dembe, and with the help of Aram, they realized that Dembe isn’t directly responsible for her death no matter how anybody looks at it. Data proved that somebody else led Liz’s killer to her location, and now they can join forces to chase down the person really responsible. Neither Red nor Dembe is 100% innocent in the chain of events that led to her being gunned down, but they can now work together. 

While all of that means that The Blacklist obviously isn’t done with the story of Liz’s death, they were both less emotionally reactive about her death in this episode than before. There is still hurt, sadness, and regret, but they’re moving forward; if Red of all people can start moving forward, then I think it’s a sign that the focus can be on getting justice for Liz (and/or avenging her) rather than stewing in their grief and blaming each other. 

There’s also the point that the rest of the task force absolved Dembe of any blame, even before the data pointed toward somebody else leading Liz’s killer to her. So they're recovering from losing Liz as well. Ressler did fall off the wagon again just last week due to the loss of Liz, but he also took first steps to get himself clean again that involved relying on his growing bond with Park. Everybody may not be moving on entirely, but they’re moving forward, and that could mean fans will be watching less mourning and more action. 

Unfortunately for any fans who are excited by the Red/Dembe reconciliation and the other storylines of Season 9 so far, The Blacklist is heading into a break until after the Olympics. The show will return on February 25 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, moving back to its previous time slot on Friday nights with the Law & Order revival taking its place on Thursdays. For some viewing options during the weeks before The Blacklist is back in February, check out our 2022 winter and spring premiere schedule.

Spoilers ahead for the January 13 episode of The Blacklist Season 9, called “Dr. Razmik Maier.” 

The Blacklist tackled a case involving professional athletes, a doping conspiracy, and a killer trying to cover his tracks, but the biggest twists of the episode involved Cooper trying to discover who framed him, Red discovering the depths of what he views as Dembe’s betrayal, and a powerful confession from Ressler to Park after his visit to Liz’s grave that could set up a different dynamic as Season 9 moves forward… for better or worse.

Ressler had seemed like he found some closure and catharsis in the previous episode when he visited Liz’s grave after flashing back to how he fell off the wagon due to her death. He even told Park as much at the beginning of the episode to allay her fears that the visit would make it worse. When Park caught him pocketing a prescription pad from a crime scene, however, she knew that he had lied in a big way and decided she was done covering for him, with her own problems to deal with. Ressler ultimately realized that he’d have to tell her the truth and shared:

It was a big speech from Ressler, especially considering that their first exchange of the episode was him lying about how visiting the cemetery affected him. He handed over the pills that he’d gotten from the stolen prescription pad page. She insisted that he needed assistance, because weaning himself off clearly wasn’t working and is “like handcuffing yourself to your desk at night.” She wouldn’t commit to helping him, saying that she was just making him worse when she tried.

Her reaction clearly had an affect on Ressler, and he took steps based on what she said… quite literally, as he ended the episode by handcuffing himself to a desk with pills just out of reach. He called her and left a message that was at least hopeful:

Now, Ressler taking a big step forward in accepting help by reaching out to Park is a good sign for his recovery, as he seems both sincere and willing to do more than just try to wean himself off the pills. It’s a good thing for him, but what about Park? As she reminded Ressler in this episode, her marriage is hanging on by a thread, she was injured seriously enough that she’s still suffering from headaches, and she had a miscarriage. 

Unless Ressler really steps up in his own recovery, it’s possible that adding this responsibility onto what she’s already carrying could be too much for her. He clearly doesn’t want to make anything worse for her, which is a good sign, but I’m just hoping that he rounded a corner in his recovery in this episode so that he doesn’t risk taking both of them down. As for Park… well, I’m guessing that she’ll help him again, and not just stop at uncuffing him from his desk. I just hope that it’s not at the expense of her own health. 

See what’s next for Ressler, Park, and the rest with new episodes of The Blacklist on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, until the show moves back to Fridays in February. I’m all-in on Ressler and Park continuing to build a friendship as long as Park doesn’t suffer for it, and kudos to The Blacklist for developing a new pairing for Ressler after killing off Liz. His relationship with Park isn’t romantic, but definitely one of the most intriguing parts of Season 9 so far for me. For more viewing options now and in the coming weeks, check out our 2022 winter and spring premiere schedule.

The Blacklist hit the ground running in Season 9 after a time jump for the Task Force to start working together again, for better or worse. In the case of Harold Cooper, he has more to deal with than just picking up the pieces with the rest and moving on from Liz’s death. He has been framed for the murder of a man against whom he had every motive to want revenge, and whoever did the framing did a very good job of it. In a clip (seen above) from the next new episode, called “Dr. Razmik Maier,” Cooper seems to have caught a break… and then run into another problem in a conversation with Lew.

The good news for Cooper in this look at the January 13 episode is that his blood test results prove that he was drugged with GHB to cause memory loss and make it very easy to frame him for the murder of his wife’s former lover. Considering that the person who did the framing did everything from staging Cooper to using his service weapon, it makes sense that a drug was used to take him out of commission for enough time. It’s a lucky break for Cooper, but would be a whole lot luckier if he and Lew hadn’t tampered with the evidence, so he can’t just go to the Homicide detective working the case to clear his name. 

And in true Blacklist fashion, Cooper and Lew were being watched when they made their exchange about the gun. Now, the killer has some leverage over Cooper, and they don’t even have a clue about who he is. Lew’s question of “Where do we start?” is definitely a good one, because the odds seem pretty stacked against them. Then again, Cooper has gotten himself and others out of plenty of sticky situations over the years already. Maybe he has another one up his sleeve to clear his name and catch the person truly responsible for the murder. 

A big question is whether the killer is somebody who Cooper (and viewers) already know but hasn’t been identified yet, or somebody who hasn’t been introduced just yet. Figuring out motive could be key, as Cooper’s status as the husband of the woman who had an affair with the victim set him up as somebody with a prime motive. At least he has Lew on his side to help dig into the case, since he seems determined to keep the Task Force out of it. And I don’t see him roping Charlene in any further than she already is!

Besides, based on the episode description for “Dr. Razmik Maier,” the rest of the Task Force will have plenty on their hands with the case of a professional tennis player’s death that leads them to a doctor who is fixing more than just medical problems. The doctor might be responsible for fixing the odds for a betting syndicate for sporting events. Meanwhile, Ressler will continue struggling with his sobriety, after seemingly making an emotional breakthrough on the anniversary of Liz’s death. For his part, Red will look more closely into Dembe’s betrayal that happened over the time jump. 

See what’s next for Cooper in his efforts to clear his name and all the rest with the next new episode of The Blacklist on Thursday, January 13 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, ahead of the Law & Order block of SVU and Organized Crime. The Blacklist will return to Friday nights in February, which could be a good thing for the long-running show, as it did well on Fridays in previous seasons. 

Spoilers ahead for the midseason premiere of The Blacklist Season 9, called “Between Sleep and Awake.”

The Blacklist returned in 2022 with an episode that didn’t actually involve the task force going after another blacklister, but instead focused on telling Ressler’s story as it unfolded over the time jump. It was clear in the premiere that he hadn’t coped well with Liz’s death, considering that he’d left pretty much everything behind to become a mechanic, and “Between Sleep and Awake” filled in some blanks about what happened immediately after the credits rolled on Liz’s death back in 2021. 

The midseason premiere featured a flashback that picked up right where the Season 8 finale left off: with Dembe hustling Red away from Liz’s body and Ressler arriving on the scene, already distraught at finding the woman he loved dead. Now, The Blacklist revealed that Ressler didn’t just stay with Liz’s body after finding her, but took off running after Red, even commandeering a civilian’s car to continue the chase. Very unfortunately, he was under the influence at the time and caused a car crash that seriously injured both himself and another woman, with Dembe and Red getting cleanly away. 

Ressler’s car crash showed how it was a new set of injuries that knocked him off the wagon, and he wasn’t struggling with his drug addiction again from the emotional pain alone. He also left his life behind rather than face a disciplinary hearing from the FBI and took off on a journey that involved drug-seeking behavior, falling into a small town life when strapped for cash, and ultimately saving a woman and her son from her abusive husband. 

That journey ended, as fans saw with the first episode of Season 9, with him as a bearded mechanic who needed to be talked into returning and rejoining the task force. The episode finally caught up with the present with a clean-shaven Ressler talking to Liz at her gravesite, with Diego Klattenhoff turning in a masterful performance with his emotional monologue, which helpfully summarized everything that happened since Liz’s death, saying:

It’s probably safe to say that Ressler won’t be going back to his life as a mechanic any time soon, although I’m ready for him to catch a break after he tearfully told Liz that he's happy she’s with Tom, even though he hated Tom, because he wouldn’t want her to be alone. He did seem to get some degree of catharsis, if not closure just yet, so hopefully things will start looking a little brighter for him moving forward. 

Season 9 has had to roll with a lot of changes, both in front of the camera with Megan Boone’s absence and behind-the-scenes after the departure of show creator Jon Bokenkamp. It hasn’t thrived in the ratings in its Thursday night time slot, but will move back to Fridays in February. For now, you can find new episodes of The Blacklist on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET, ahead of Law & Order: SVU at 9 p.m. ET and Law & Order: Organized Crime at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.

Megan Boone was a figure on broadcast television for the better part of a decade thanks to her role as Liz Keen on The Blacklist, but that ended back in June 2021 when Liz was shockingly killed off in the Season 8 finale. Now, the actress has said goodbye to last year with a post that seemingly nodded to her departure from the NBC show.

Boone took to Instagram to post a photo that doesn’t actually feature her at all, but said a “Goodbye” to 2021, with a list of names and more that were important to her over that year. Among those names? “Liz.” Take a look:

Megan Boone didn’t explicitly say that she was talking about Elizabeth Keen in her mention of “Liz,” but it would make sense for her to bid a farewell to her longtime Blacklist character as she looks ahead to 2022 in her life and career. She also used the caption to pay small tributes to some who passed away in 2022, including (presumably) Desmond Tutu, Cicely Tyson, Michael K. Williams, and Betty White, who died at the age of 99 on December 31. 

She has also been an advocate for climate legislation, as she mentioned in her goodbye to 2021. While her mentions of people who passed away and “majesty” being lost weren’t exactly the happiest sentiments for ringing in the new year, I think plenty of people can echo her hope that we find majesty "again" in 2022. 

Whatever 2022 holds for Megan Boone, it probably won’t include The Blacklist. Her departure from the show was actually revealed before the Season 8 finale aired, giving fans some time to speculate about how the show could write out the leading lady after nearly ten years. If Liz had just been sent away somewhere or gone on a mission, fans could have held out hope for Boone to reprise the role someday. 

Liz’s death in the final moments of Season 8 definitely ruled out the character coming back alive, but perhaps she could make an appearance via flashback or hallucination if Boone is ever available and the show needs her. Ryan Eggold managed to reprise his role as Tom after being killed off and going on to star in New Amsterdam, after all! 

The show is going on without Liz, although it hasn’t been crushing in the ratings in what could have been a pretty great time slot on NBC on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET, leading into the Law & Order block comprised of SVU at 9 p.m. and Organized Crime at 10 p.m. The Blacklist will move back to its old Friday night slot in February, however, so maybe it will thrive once more even without Liz. To revisit Megan Boone's time as Blacklist leading lady, you can find the first eight seasons streaming on Netflix now.