The eighth season of the American crime thriller television series ''

The Blacklist ''The Blacklist'' is an American crime thriller television series that premiered on NBC on September 23, 2013. The show follows Raymond "Red" Reddington (James Spader), a former U.S. Navy officer turned high-profile criminal who voluntarily sur ...

'' premiered on November 13, 2020 and ended on June 23, 2021. The series was created by Jon Bokenkamp, and continues to be produced by

Davis Entertainment Davis Entertainment (also known as Davis Entertainment Company) is an American film and television production company, founded by John Davis in 1984. Davis's three divisions–feature film, independent film, and television–develop and produc ...

Universal Television Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a predeces ...

and

Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainm ...

, and executive produced by

Jon Bokenkamp Jon Bokenkamp (born September 9, 1974 in Kearney, Nebraska) is an American writer and producer best known for his role in writing the screenplays for '' Taking Lives'' and '' The Call'', and creating the NBC series ''The Blacklist'' along with '' ...

, John Davis,

John Eisendrath John Eisendrath is an American television series producer and writer. He created and served as the executive producer and showrunner for the series ''Outlaw'', ''Playmakers'', and currently serves as executive producer on NBC's ''The Blacklist''. ...

, John Fox and

Joe Carnahan Joseph Aaron Carnahan (born May 9, 1969) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor whose films include '' Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane''; '' Narc''; ''Smokin' Aces''; ''The A-Team''; '' The Grey''; and ''Boss Level''. He a ...

. This is the last season to star

Megan Boone Megan Boone (born April 29, 1983) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as FBI agent and profiler Elizabeth Keen on the NBC drama series ''The Blacklist''. She had a recurring role in '' Law & Order: LA'' and an episodic appeara ...

Premise

The eighth season follows Elizabeth Keen and her mother Katarina Rostova in their attempts to take down Reddington, who eventually kills Rostova. Elizabeth then goes on a vengeful crusade against Reddington, going rogue from the FBI and gathering her own resources and people to destroy him. She enters into an alliance with a powerful, dangerous criminal Neville Townsend, the author of Townsend's Directive. This alliance however, puts Elizabeth, Reddington, the FBI task force, and her attempts to discover more about her and Reddington's past in great jeopardy.

Cast

Main

James Spader James Todd Spader (born February 7, 1960) is an American actor. He has portrayed eccentric characters in films such as the drama ''Sex, Lies, and Videotape'' (1989) for which he won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, the action scien ...

as Raymond "Red" Reddington *

as Elizabeth Keen *

Diego Klattenhoff Diego Klattenhoff is a Canadian actor known for his portrayals of Mike Faber in the Showtime series ''Homeland'' and as FBI Special Agent Donald Ressler in ''The Blacklist''. He has also appeared as Derek in '' Whistler'', Ivan in ''Men in Tre ...

as Donald Ressler *

Harry Lennix Harry Joseph Lennix III (born November 16, 1964) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Terrence "Dresser" Williams in the Robert Townsend film ''The Five Heartbeats'' (1991) and as Boyd Langton in the science-fiction series ''Dollh ...

as Harold Cooper *

Amir Arison Amir Arison (born March 24, 1978) is an American actor, best known for his work as FBI tech expert Aram Mojtabai on NBC’s ''The Blacklist'' for nine seasons. Early life and education Arison was born in Saint Louis, MO to father Ron Arison, ...

as Aram Mojtabai * Laura Sohn as Alina Park *

Hisham Tawfiq Hisham Tawfiq (born May 17, 1970) is an American actor, best known for playing Dembe Zuma, part of the security detail and very close friend to Raymond "Red" Reddington in NBC's ''The Blacklist''. Early life Born in New York City, Tawfiq disco ...

as Dembe Zuma

Recurring

Laila Robins Laila Robins is an American stage, film and television actress. She has appeared in films including ''Planes, Trains and Automobiles'' (1987), ''An Innocent Man'' (1989), ''Live Nude Girls'' (1995), ''True Crime'' (1999), ''She's Lost Control'' ( ...

as Katarina Rostova/Tatiana Petrova *

Reg Rogers Reg Rogers (born December 23, 1964) is an American stage, film, and television actor, known for his roles in '' Primal Fear'' and '' Runaway Bride'' and for the TV miniseries '' Attila''. He also appears in theater, both on Broadway and Off-Broa ...

as Neville Townsend *

Ron Raines Ron Raines (born December 2, 1949) is an American actor. He is known for the role of Alan Spaulding on the television soap opera '' Guiding Light''. Raines also performs in musical theatre and in concert with symphony orchestras. Career Early y ...

as Dominic Wilkinson * Ginger Mason as Agnes Keen * Kecia Lewis as Esi Jackson *

Drew Gehling Andrew Shearer Gehling (born October 16, 1982) is an American stage and screen actor, best known for his role as Dr. Pomatter in the Broadway musical ''Waitress'', Garry Marshall's ''Billy & Ray'', and as the voice of Gord in the 2006 video game ' ...

as Skip Hadley *

Deirdre Lovejoy Deirdre Lovejoy (born June 30, 1962) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Assistant State's Attorney Rhonda Pearlman on HBO’s ''The Wire''. She is also known for her roles as a serial killer List of Bones characters#The G ...

as Cynthia Panabaker *

LaChanze Rhonda LaChanze Sapp, known professionally as LaChanze (; born December 16, 1961), is an American actress, singer, and dancer. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical in 2006 for her role as Celie Harris Johnson ...

as Anne Foster * David E. Harrison as Ivan Stepanov * Lukas Hassel as Vandyke * Christopher Gurr as Godwin Page * Rana Roy as Priya Laghari

Guest stars

Huey Lewis Hugh Anthony Cregg III (born July 5, 1950), known professionally as Huey Lewis, is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. Lewis sings lead and plays harmonica for his band, Huey Lewis and the News, in addition to writing or co-writing many o ...

as himself *

Laverne Cox Laverne Cox (born May 29, 1972) is an American actress and LGBT advocate. She rose to prominence with her role as Sophia Burset on the Netflix series ''Orange Is the New Black'', becoming the first transgender person to be nominated for a Pri ...

as Dr. Laken Perillos *

Susan Blommaert Susan J. Blommaert (born October 13, 1947) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Mr. Kaplan (The Blacklist), Mr. Kaplan on the NBC drama series The Blacklist (TV series), ''The Blacklist'', and for her recurring role as Judge ...

as Mr. Kaplan *

Lotte Verbeek Lotte Verbeek (born 24 June 1982) is a Dutch actress, dancer and model. She is known for her role as Giulia Farnese in '' The Borgias'' television series created by Neil Jordan, and as Geillis Duncan in the Starz series '' Outlander''. Early li ...

as younger Katarina Rostova *

Dikran Tulaine Dikran Tulaine (born 23 June 1956) is an English-Armenian actor, storyteller and playwright. He had a recurring guest role of Max on the NBC series ''The Blacklist'' (2013–21), and was in the films '' G.I. Joe: Retaliation'' (2013), ''Black K ...

as Maxwell Ruddiger *

Valarie Pettiford Valarie Pettiford (born July 8, 1960) is an American stage and television actress, dancer, and jazz singer. She received a Tony Award nomination for her role in the broadway production '' Fosse''. She is also known for her role as "Big Dee Dee" ...

as Charlene Cooper *

Fisher Stevens Fisher Stevens (born Steven Fisher; November 27, 1963) is an American actor, director, producer and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Ben in ''Short Circuit'' and ''Short Circuit 2'', Chuck Fishman on the 1990s televis ...

as Marvin Gerard *

Brett Cullen Peter Brett Cullen (born August 26, 1956) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Dan Fixx in ''Falcon Crest'' (1986-1988), Sam Cain in ''The Young Riders'' (1989-1990), Governor Ray Sullivan in ''The West Wing'' (2005-2006), Goo ...

as Frank Bloom / Ilya Kozlov * Jonathan Holtzman as Chuck * Dane West as The Storyteller

Tribute to

Brian Dennehy Brian Manion Dennehy (; July 9, 1938 – April 15, 2020) was an American actor of stage, television, and film. He won two Tony Awards, an Olivier Award, and a Golden Globe, and received six Primetime Emmy Award nominations. Dennehy had roles in ...

as Dominic Wilkinson *

Clark Middleton Clark Tinsley Middleton (April 13, 1957 – October 4, 2020) was an American actor. He is best known for his supporting roles in '' Kill Bill: Vol. 2'', ''Sin City'', ''Fringe'', ''Snowpiercer'', and ''The Blacklist''. Career Middleton's first ...

as Glen Carter * Tobias Core (unknown role)

Episodes

Production

Casting

* Laura Sohn, who had a recurring role in the previous season as Alina Park, had become a series regular. *

replaced

Dominic Wilkinson Dominic is a name common among Roman Catholics and other Latin-Romans as a male given name. Originally from the late Roman-Italic name "Dominicus", its translation means "Lordly", "Belonging to God" or "of the Master". Variations include: Domini ...

, due to the death of the latter prior to production. *

, who portrayed Glen Carter, Reddington's tracker, died in October 2020. *

left the series after eight seasons.

Filming

Production for the eighth season began in September 2020 with full safety protocols in place amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Departure of Jon Bokenkamp

Series creator Jon Bokenkamp announced in June 2021 to leave the series after eight seasons to move on new projects.

Ratings

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blacklist (season 8) 2020 American television seasons 2021 American television seasons 8 Television productions postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic