The Blacklist (TV Series)

''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 surrenders to the FBI after eluding capture for decades. He tells the FBI that he has a list of the most dangerous criminals in the world that he has compiled over the years and that he is willing to inform on their operations in exchange for immunity from prosecution on condition he works exclusively with rookie FBI criminal profiler Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone), to whom he seemingly has no connection.

Diego Klattenhoff, Ryan Eggold, Amir Arison, Hisham Tawfiq, and Harry Lennix also star in the series. Executive producers for the series include Jon Bokenkamp (for the first eight seasons), John Eisendrath, and John Davis for Sony Pictures Television, Universal Television, and Davis Entertainment; Joe Carnahan serves as director.

Each season has received positive reviews, with many critics praising Spader's performance in particular. On February 22, 2022, the series was renewed for a tenth season, which is scheduled to premiere on February 26, 2023.

Plot

With a few exceptions, each episode features one of the global criminals, and Reddington assists the task force in hunting down and capturing them. In every such episode, the rank and name or alias of the featured criminal on Red's blacklist are displayed at the close of the opening sequence. Otherwise, only the episode name is shown.

Original storyline (seasons 1–8)

Raymond "Red" Reddington, an ex- U.S. Naval Intelligence officer who had disappeared twenty years earlier to become one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, surrenders himself to FBI Assistant Director Harold Cooper at the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, D.C. Taken to an FBI "black site", Reddington declares he wishes to help the FBI track down and apprehend the criminals and terrorists he has spent the last twenty years associating with. They are the individuals who are so dangerous and devious that the United States government is unaware of their very existence.

He offers Cooper his knowledge and assistance on two conditions: immunity from prosecution and cooperation with Elizabeth Keen, a rookie recently assigned to Cooper. Keen and Cooper are suspicious of Reddington's interest in her, but he will only say that she is "very special". After Cooper tests Reddington's offer in locating and neutralizing a Serbian terrorist in the first episode, Reddington reveals that this man was only the first on the "blacklist" of global criminals that he has compiled over his criminal career and states that he and the FBI have a mutual interest in eliminating them. The mysteries of Reddington's and Liz's lives, and his interest in her, are gradually revealed as the series progresses. She starts digging into her family past, the question of his real identity and their interconnection, while he desperately tries to hide them. However, the more secrets Reddington keeps from Liz, the more people close to her are killed as a result. With every minute spent with Red, Liz becomes more like him, and as she reveals his secrets, she begins to confront him, which leads to inevitable consequences.

Renewed storyline (season 9–present)

Following Liz's death at the end of the eighth season, Cooper's task force has disbanded and Reddington has fled the country. For the next two years, the deal with Red and the FBI sits inactive. However, the world's criminals remain active, evolving in their methods and going out for blood. When a crime lord explodes and nearly kills Dembe Zuma, Red's former associate who has become an FBI agent with the assistance of Cooper, Red is forced to return and help him. At first, Red promises to retire and move to Cuba once the crime lord is neutralized. However, when Red begins to take over management of the remains of his empire, he breaks his promise and decides to stay in charge of what he can still control.

Red and Cooper come to an agreement to resume his deal with the FBI and continue hunting down global criminals on his "blacklist" in honor of Liz's undertaking. Cooper manages to find the old task force members and re-create their division. The secrets Red kept from Liz become irrelevant, and the story now centers on not only Red but also Cooper and the field agents Liz used to work with. Now, the task force must confront new criminals as well as familiar ones who have returned in order to take revenge on Red for his betrayal.

Cast and characters

Main cast

* James Spader as Raymond "Red" Reddington: a master criminal turned confidential FBI informant who is presumed to be Elizabeth Keen's biological father. During seasons 1–8, Elizabeth and the task force's effort to uncover his true identity is a major ongoing narrative. During Season 9, his main concern is ferreting out a traitor within his organization.
* Megan Boone as Elizabeth "Liz" Keen: Born Masha Rostova, Keen is a special agent and profiler with the FBI on Harold Cooper's team (seasons 1–8). Her presence is part of Reddington's deal with Cooper for no apparent reason until her connection to Reddington becomes obvious.
* Diego Klattenhoff as Donald Ressler: a special agent with the FBI on Cooper's team.
* Ryan Eggold as Tom Keen (seasons 1–5): Born Christopher Hargrave, later taking the adoptive name Jacob Phelps, Keen works as a covert operative and is Liz's husband.
* Parminder Nagra as Meera Malik (season 1): a field agent with the CIA who worked with Cooper's FBI team.
* Harry Lennix as Harold Cooper: the assistant director of the FBI Counterterrorism Division who uses Reddington to stop people on his blacklist
* Amir Arison as Aram Mojtabai (recurring season 1; main, seasons 2–9): a cyber expert with the FBI on Cooper's team.
* Mozhan Marnò as Samar Navabi (main seasons 2–6; guest, season 9): a Mossad agent who works with Cooper's FBI team.
* Hisham Tawfiq as Dembe Zuma (recurring seasons 1–2; main, season 3–present): Reddington's bodyguard and confidant, who separated from him and turned FBI agent in season 9
* Laura Sohn as Alina Park (recurring season 7; main, seasons 8–9): an FBI field agent who previously worked in Anchorage.
* Anya Banerjee as Siya Malik (season 10): Meera's daughter and an intelligence officer with MI6 who comes to work with Cooper's team.

Recurring actors

* Teddy Coluca as Teddy Brimley: Red's interrogator who uses extravagant methods (usually involving various animals) to make his victims talk
* Susan Blommaert as Mr. Kaplan: born Kathryn Nemec, Kaplan is Red's cleaner. She has also been a nanny for Liz and therefore is feared for her collaborations with Reddington (seasons 1–4; guest, season 8).
* Clark Middleton as Glen "Jellybean" Carter: Reddington's tracker "with a twist" (seasons 2–7). He has frequently let Red down but never loses his credibility despite criticism from other members of the team.
* Lotte Verbeek as Katarina Rostova: the former KGB spy and biological mother of Elizabeth (seasons 3–8). She has been hunted worldwide after the establishment of The Townsend Directive. The question of her fate and location is one of the main storylines in the first eight seasons.
* Deirdre Lovejoy as Cynthia Panabaker: a United States senator, formerly a White House counsel who operates the legal aspects of Cooper's taskforce (season 3 – present). She always tries to act as the law says, bringing trouble to Reddington's illegal cooperations.
* Fisher Stevens as Marvin Gerard: a shadow counsel whom Reddington hires as his attorney (seasons 3–9). He manages most of the empire's dealings, and, being very proud of his achievements, stands up for the benefit of it.
* Brian Dennehy (seasons 3–7) and Ron Raines (season 8) as Dominic Wilkinson: Elizabeth's grandfather who knows some unexpected information about Reddington's past
* Various actresses (seasons 3–8) and Sami Bray (season 9 – present) as Agnes Keen: the daughter of Elizabeth who reflects after any major event occurring to Liz
* Aida Turturro as Heddie Hawkins: Reddington's financial manager and an owner of a smuggling corporation (season 5 – present)
* Jonathan Holtzman as Chuck: Reddington's hitman who works alongside Morgan and usually replaces his bodyguards (season 5 – present)
* Genson Blimline as Morgan: Reddington's operative who usually accompanies Chuck on their missions (seasons 5–9)
* Fiona Dourif as Jennifer Reddington: the elder daughter of Reddington, adopted as Lillian Roth (seasons 5–6; guest, season 8). She helps Liz investigate Reddington's true identity and their shared past.
* Laila Robins as Tatiana Petrova: an operative in Reddington's organization. Assigned as a body double of Katarina Rostova meant to draw suspicion away from her, she ends up on the running instead. She manipulates Liz to get to Reddington, the only man who is aware of the true Katarina's location (seasons 7–8; guest, season 6).

Episodes

Production

Development

The first mention of ''The Blacklist'' appeared on August 13, 2012, when Jon Bokenkamp came up with the idea of an international crime series with a character based on Keyser Söze, originally introduced to him by his fellow producer, Davis Entertainment's John Fox. The same day it was revealed that NBC had bought rights for the series from Sony. John Eisendrath from Universal Television, John Davis and Fox have already signed a contract as executive producers. NBC ordered a pilot for the series on January 22, 2013, along with three other dramas. It was written by Bokenkamp and directed by Joe Carnahan, as was revealed on March 13, 2013. On May 10, the series was picked up by NBC for the 2013-14 television season. During an NBC upfront presentation in May 2013, it was announced that ''The Blacklist'' was NBC's highest-testing drama for the last 10 years. The official trailer for the series was released on May 12, 2013. Originally, a 13-episode first season was planned, but, after the premiere reached 12.3 million viewers, NBC decided to bring episode count to 22 by ordering nine additional episodes on October 4, 2013.

On December 3, 2013, NBC renewed the series for the second season. On February 5, 2015, the series was renewed for the third season, along with four other dramas. On December 5, 2015, the series was renewed for the fourth season. On May 11, 2017, the series was renewed for the fifth season, premiering a week earlier than planned. The sixth season renewal was announced on May 12, 2018, and premiered with a double episode on January 3, 2019, which was the first time for the series to be held for midseason.

The series was renewed for the seventh season on March 11, 2019, and then received a renewal for the eighth season on February 2, 2020. However, the production suffered from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic while filming the final episodes; in March 2020, the production for the show was shut down, with three full episodes left unproduced. Then, it was announced that instead of ending the season with the last live-action episode produced a nineteenth partly animated episode would be made using the filmed live-action material and an animation department of ''Proof'' visual effects company. It aired on May 15, 2020.

Filming for the eighth season resumed in live-action with taking extra Covid-19 precautions. The eighth season premiered November 13, 2020. On January 26, 2021, the series was renewed for the ninth season. The series was renewed for the tenth season on February 22, 2022, which, unlike the previous renewals, was first announced by Spader himself during his appearance on ''The Tonight Show'', not by a press release.

''The Blacklist'' received a panel twice on San Diego Comic-Con. The panel appeared before the show's debut on July 18, 2013, and during a remote special convention on July 23, 2020. On May 11, 2014, NBC applied the series for a 2015 post–Super Bowl timeslot.

All four showrunners have signed a deal with Sony before the premiere; first, Eisendrath on June 7, 2013, then, Bokenkamp on July 16, and both Davis and Fox on July 29. On June 24, 2021, a day after the finale of season 8 was aired, Bokenkamp revealed that he will not return for future seasons. That way Eisendrath took over the lead. On March 14, 2022, Eisendrath prolonged his deal with Universal Television for three additional years.

Michael Watkins, who served as co-executive producer of the series since season 1, was fired in February 2018 over alleged harassment involving a camera assistant. He claimed that there was no reason for firing him and blamed his colleague, Laura A. Benson, for using him as a way to rise in her career. Then, he sued Sony, Laura Benson, and another of his colleagues, Bill Roe, a year later.

Casting

Main characters

John Eisendrath told ''Collider'' that the casting process was difficult. In February 2013, he and Bokenkamp invited Kiefer Sutherland, Bryan Cranston, Pierce Brosnan and Richard Gere to apply for the role of Raymond Reddington. In an interview to Variety, Bokenkamp told about his intentions to cast Sutherland for the role, though he also expressed doubt about the significance of the role to all these actors. At last, three days before filming began, they contacted James Spader to see if he would be interested in playing Reddington. After a lengthy remote conversation, Bokenkamp and Eisendrath cast Spader, as they felt confident in his understanding of the character. Spader's vision was for the international criminal to be a bald or short-haired person wearing a hat. The producers rejected his idea, however, Spader insisted on trying on a fedora while screening the pilot; later, the crew felt the hat enhanced Reddington's image and agreed to keep it. In an interview on ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'', Spader admitted that he had gotten into the role of Reddington over the nine seasons; he also noted that to play his role plausibly at the beginning of season nine, he spent a considerable amount of time alone and not appearing on set.

Megan Boone took a week to prepare for her audition as FBI profiler Elizabeth Keen, and she was called back multiple times. In March 2013, it was reported that she has accepted the role as the female lead in the series. In June 2021, it was revealed that Megan Boone would not be returning for the ninth season of the series.

On March 11, 2013, Ryan Eggold accepted the role of Tom Keen, Elizabeth's enigmatic husband, who has previously worked for Reddington as a spy. In the middle of season 4, Eggold left the series to star in '' The Blacklist: Redemption'', a new spin-off centered on his character, but returned later this season following the cancellation of ''Redemption''. He ultimately gave up his role the next season. In a 2021 interview, he spoke about an option to return to the series, perhaps as a guest star, and assumed it being ''not totally out of the realm of possibility''.

On March 13, 2013, Diego Klattenhoff joined the series as Donald Ressler, a law-abiding field agent working with Cooper's task force.

The next day, on March 14, 2013, Harry Lennix was cast as Harold Cooper, the leader of a newly formed task force, which cooperates with Reddington. Lennix has been starring in each season of the series, and he is willing to continue; in an interview with ''Collider'', he told that he may go on until a suggested twentieth season, like his most favorite TV show, Gunsmoke.

On July 25, 2013, Parminder Nagra joined the cast as Meera Malik, a professional field agent who decides to help Elizabeth settle into her new job. However, she was written out of the series after the first season. Eight years after her departure, Anya Banerjee joined the series for the tenth season in a role of Meera's daughter, Mi-6 intelligence officer Siya Malik.

On October 8, 2014, Amir Arison was promoted to a recurring role as Aram Mojtabai, a quirky technician and a professional computer master after he showed some extraordinary on-the-move improvisation skills in his debut episode. He was promoted to series regular on May 20, 2014. After the finale of season 9, Arison departed the series, but return appearances were left possible.

Hisham Tawfiq's appearance as Dembe Zuma was also presumed as a one-shot deal, but he managed to prolong his contract first as recurring for the first two seasons, and, on March 31, 2015, earned a place in the main cast. He has never left then, appearing in every single episode.

Mozhan Marnò joined the cast on July 29, 2014, as Samar Navabi, a field professional agent recruited by the task force Director, originally working for Mossad who develops relationships with Aram. She officially confirmed her departure on March 29, 2019, in the middle of the sixth season. She returned once, in 2022's ninth season.

On May 7, 2020, Laura Sohn was promoted to series regular as Alina Park, another new field agent taken into Cooper's task force, also previously recurring in the seventh season. She departed after the series' ninth season.

Supporting stars

The first season introduced several well-known actors in recurring roles. For the pilot, Ilfenesh Hadera was cast alongside Harry Lennix, playing Jennifer Palmer, a federal agent and a friend of Elizabeth. Alan Alda was cast in a major supporting role in September, as Alan Fitch, the Deputy Director of National Intelligence and one of Red's former allies. To bring the series closer to reality, a former CIA agent, Bazzel Baz, was hired by the producers to supervise the shooting of some scenes. However, instead of consulting the crew, he played himself in the series. Chin Han and Margarita Levieva were among the blacklisters besides Peter Stormare as Berlin. Susan Blommaert and Teddy Coluca also began starring as Reddington's valuable team members.

For the second season, Mary-Louise Parker was cast as Carla Reddington, one of Red's ex-wives. The episode " Luther Braxton" introduced David Strathairn in a guest role of Peter Kotsiopulos, The Director of National Clandestine Service. Reed Birney played final blacklister Tom Connoly, and his death scene in season finale was met with standing ovation from the crew. Stormare continued to recur through the season and later departed in the middle of it.

The third season featured numerous new celebrities in major recurring roles as well as provided various comebacks of familiar characters. Deidre Lovejoy was cast as U.S. Marshall Cynthia Panabaker, set to replace Adriane Lenox, who left earlier this season. Fisher Stevens debuted as Marvin Gerard, an imprisoned criminal attorney joining Reddington's criminal empire and getting gradually obsessed with it, in the eponymous episode. Two former blacklisters, Lance Henriksen and Margarita Levieva, returned in the season, where one of the episodes showed Levieva killing Henricksen's character. Strathairn also returned as one of the lead villains of the season, receiving a double episode under his Blacklist number. The season also featured most of the lead cast from its spin-off, The Blacklist: Redemption. In July 2015, Edi Gathegi was revealed to have joined as a high-class operative and assassin set up to kill Elizabeth. Famke Janssen was cast as Susan Hargrave, an authoritative criminal magnate and Tom's mother. Ulrich Thomsen served as the blacklister in the finale.

The fourth season opened with the misleading departure of series veteran Susan Blommaert after her character is headshot by Reddington. However, she remained till the end of the season and turned out to be a villain. In August 2016, Leon Rippy joined as a ranger and her savior, Hunter, while Enrique Murciano landed a role as Julian Gale, an FBI investigator who previously worked with Ressler on capturing Reddington, in February 2017. Thomsen continued his role as Alexander Kirk, Liz's presumed father, who has been holding her hostage. He quit in the first half of the season. In the finale, Bazzel Baz, Murciano and Blommaert departed from the series.

The fifth season brought more new recurring characters. In August 2017, it was revealed that Jonathan Holtzman, Genson Blimline, Michael Aronov, and Aida Turturro will take the recurring roles of two of Reddington's operatives, Smokey Putnum, the logistician and an embezzler, and Heddie Hawkins, his accountant, respectively. In October, Jonny Coyne was cast as Red's nemesis and Tom's murderer, Ian Garvey; his adopted daughter, Lilian Roth, actually Liz's stepsister, Jennifer Reddington, was portrayed by Fiona Dourif. Aside from Coyle and Aronov, notable blacklister was Nathan Lane who joined for the series' 100th episode. John Waters and Julian Sands appeared in season conclusion with Sands, playing the blacklister. Janssen also returned for one episode.

In the sixth season, Dourif continued to recur in the season while Aronov departed. In November 2018, it was revealed that Coy Stewart would play Vontae Jones, an imprisoned junior whom Reddington teaches to survive behind bars. The season introduced the first true criminal, financist Robert Vesco, who once escaped without payment of $200 billion. The actual Vesco died in 2007 of lung cancer, however, the theories about his pseudocide were arisen by his friends. The series expanded one of such theories by adding a reason to orchestrate his own death which is an attempt to salvage a sunken ship full of treasure. He appeared on the list and was played by Stacy Keach. Laila Robins also appeared in the season's final minutes as Liz's mother, Katarina Rostova, a subject of the show's major story line.

For the seventh season, Robins was given a recurring role. Showrunners told Deadline and Variety that they were trying to change the format of the series to a family drama, rather than a crime drama as it was intended to be. It was the reason for the introduction of Rostova, her character, and that she also served as the lead villain of the season. Another actor appearing in the season as a part of the "family drama" is Brett Cullen, who starred as Ilya Koslov, a person who allegedly posed as the real Reddington. In December 2019, Joely Richardson was cast as an international thief and the ex-girlfriend of Reddington Cassandra Biancchi for a special episode partly based on Agatha Christie novels. ''Today'' host and meteorologist Al Roker appeared in the series' 150th episode as himself.

In the eighth season, due to being the last season of the original storyline, various familiar actors returned in guest roles. It continued casting new characters as well. Reg Rogers was cast in the role of the main antagonist, the mentally disordered crime lord Neville Townsend, who sought revenge on Red after he murdered his family, also serving as the launcher of a bounty hunt on Katarina Rostova. One of his most loyal bodyguards, who also assisted in the murder of Elizabeth, Elias Vandyke, was played by Lukas Hassel. Dourif returned for her final guest appearance in the series. Blommaert also returned in the season, as a hallucination of Mr. Kaplan coming for Liz. The penultimate episode brought back Robins (who departed after the second episode of the season), Thomsen and Cullen, also revealing that Robins portrayed not Rostova, but Tatiana Petrova, her body double.

In the ninth season, fewer significant guests joined compared to the eighth, however, most of the recurring characters of the previous seasons, such as Lovejoy, Turturro, Holtzman, Blimline and Coluca, maintained their roles. Nevertheless, Blimline departed at the end of the season, where his character died offscreen. In October 2022, Diany Rodriguez and Karina Arroyave revealed that they would be starring in the upcoming season as Cuban sisters Weecha and Mierce Xiu, respectively. Keach and Richardson both returned for one episode. Stevens got his big time after being promoted to the lead enemy of the season, where he departed. However, he was still nominated for the 47th Saturn Awards for best guest starring role. Han also returned in the finale, where his character, after being incarcerated for 10 years, escapes the prison and starts gathering blacklisters from all over the world to avenge Reddington.

Two major recurring stars died while starring. The first is Clark Middleton, who played Glen Carter, Reddington's tracker and one of his best friends. He starred in the series from the second to the seventh season and was scheduled to advance to the eighth, until he died of West Nile virus in 2020, prior to the filming. He was honored by the series in one of the episodes of season 8, as his character also died of the same virus; Huey Lewis also appeared as himself. Brian Dennehy, who played Elizabeth's grandfather and Rostova's father, Dominic Wilkinson, also passed away in 2020. He appeared in guest roles from the third to the seventh season, when he died during the filming of the final episodes. However, his character was included in the animated special which was set in commemoration of him. The writers couldn't remove Dominic from season 8, so the character was recast with Ron Raines. He appeared in the first two episodes of the season.

For the tenth season, Holtzman and Han have already confirmed their returns.

Filming locations and technique

Despite being set in Washington, D.C., the series is mainly filmed in New York. The series' Task Force headquarters are located at Chelsea Piers which was mostly used while filming ''Law & Order''. The series is also partly filmed in the Canadian regions of Montreal and Quebec. Producer Richard Heus said they chose to film specific Washington, D.C. locations for the series, including the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the National Mall, because they were "iconic American locations." Filming also took place in the New York City outskirts.

The series is filmed in 4K using Sony PMW-F55 cameras that are adapted to use Panavision lenses. It is edited using Avid Media Composer, and editor Christopher Brookshire says the show has "a very distinctive look and pace." An average of three cameras are used at one time, but as many as six cameras are sometimes recording.

Broadcast

Netflix deal

On August 28, 2014, Netflix signed a deal with Sony to access ''The Blacklist'' through their subscription, with an estimated price of $2,000,000 per episode, the biggest overall deal at that time.

New episode releases vary widely due to shortening Netflix rights in front of local TV networks; it is majorly based on location and local language. In the United States and Canada, the ninth and latest season debuted on October 6, 2022, and September 21, 2022, respectively, prior to the premiere of season 10. In DACH countries and Luxembourg, the ninth season was released on June 26, 2022. In the Netherlands, the eighth season was released on March 13, 2022. In Scandinavian countries, the ninth season was released on October 23, 2022, along with Spain. In Latin America, the premiere date of season 8 was scheduled on July 18, 2021, but was initially changed to June 1, 2022. In France and the majority of French-speaking countries in Africa, the latest season premiered is season 7, which arrived at Netflix on October 4, 2021.

Some countries with domestic language voiceover do not violate any broadcaster rights and therefore are allowed to release new episodes simultaneously with NBC. For season 9, these countries included India, Israel, South Korea, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Portugal, Slovakia and Romania. Netflix also has streaming rights for all 9 seasons in Greece and Australia.

The series performs well on Netflix. In almost every country new seasons score a place in the local Top 10 and usually remain there for more than a week. The eighth and ninth seasons have most notable performance in Romania, Greece, and DACH countries.

Regional broadcasters

Sony divisions

Since the series is owned by Sony Pictures Television, it is majorly broadcast by the channels and networks which belong to Sony - AXN and formerly Sony Channel and Viasat 3.

In Asia and Oceania, the series is broadcast by AXN Asia, with the eighth season premiered on January 9, 2021, except Japan, where only two seasons have been broadcast by AXN Japan with the new episodes to air starting July 18, 2022. In Latin America and Brazil, it is broadcast by AXN Latin America and AXN Brazil, respectively, with the ninth season is awaiting for release. In Spain and Portugal, the broadcaster is AXN Portugal, with the ninth season premiered on November 2, 2021. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the ninth season is due to premiere on August 2, 2022, on Sony AXN.

Russian channel Sony Turbo, one of three Sony channels in Russia, also broadcast the first four seasons of the series before shutting down on June 24, 2021. Sony Channel Turkey also broadcast the show before closing.

In Hungary, Sony-owned channel Viasat 3 broadcast the first two series of ''The Blacklist'', with the second season premiered on April 16, 2015. However, after a transfer from Modern Times Group to Sony, the broadcast was ceased.

Local networks

In the United States, all episodes are available for purchase on Prime Video. The new episodes are released on Peacock the day after the debut on NBC. The series is broadcast simultaneously on Global in Canada. In France, the first eight seasons are broadcast by TF1, with all seasons available on pay TV service Serieclub. In Germany, the first five seasons were broadcast on RTL Crime. In Italy, the first seven seasons and the first seventeen episodes of season 8 were broadcast on Fox Crime before a transfer to Sky Group-owned Sky Investigation. It broadcast the final five episodes of season 8 and season 9, which was split into two parts, premiering on December 19, 2021, and July 3, 2021, respectively. Sky Group also has rights to broadcast ''The Blacklist'' in the United Kingdom and Ireland, where season 9 premiered on May 11, 2022, on Sky Max, and formerly broadcast the series on Sky One. Spanish channel Energy has rights to broadcast the first 7 seasons, with the latest premiered on January 22, 2022. In Australia, Seven+ has rights for broadcast for all 9 seasons.

Reception

Critical response

The first season of ''The Blacklist'' received strong reviews from television critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season is rated 82%, based on 52 reviews, which makes it the only season of the series to be granted '' Certified Fresh'' status. The consensus reads, "James Spader is riveting as a criminal-turned-informant, and his presence goes a long way toward making this twisty but occasionally implausible crime procedural compelling." The pilot was lauded by the critics, praising the original plot and cast performance, especially by Spader. At the time, it was usually compared with ''Hostages'', which premiered alongside the series, and ''Homeland'' due to the mutual connection between the characters of Reddington and Nicholas Brody and the transfer of Diego Klattenhoff, comparing him to ''Homelands Mike Faber. David Wiegand of the ''San Francisco Chronicle'' said about the pilot, "You think you know this situation and how it will turn out, but there are surprising, yet entirely credible, twists throughout Monday's episode."

The second season received fewer reviews, with the ones left remaining positive. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received a rating of 80%, based on 15 reviews. The consensus reads, "Though ''The Blacklist'' flirts with narrative overload, it's held together by James Spader's scenery-eating performance and wildly entertaining action."

The third season faced an incline in positive reviews compared to the second season, approaching a rating of 93%, based on 14 reviews. The consensus reads, "''The Blacklist'' is back in top form with fresh dangers that put Red on the ropes while giving James Spader room to shine." Canadian television critic John Doyle from ''The Globe and Mail'' wrote a glowing review on the season, praising Spader's performance, the soundtrack, and the storyline, highlighting ''Cape May''. He called the series ''outstanding and inventing'', believing that until as proper example as ''The Blacklist'' exists, television broadcasting remains effective for its owners. The fourth season stayed consistent with the third, receiving a rating of 90%, based on ten reviews. The consensus is, "Propelled by the sheer force of James Spader's performance (and a pretty killer soundtrack), The Blacklist's fourth season ups the ante and then some."

Both the fifth and sixth seasons received a rating of 100%, based on five reviews, and no consensus on any of them on Rotten Tomatoes. However, critic reviews by all newspapers and magazines were fully replaced with television summaries. It also marked the end for the series to have cumulative ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.

Seasons 7 and 8 both resulted in a lack of critics' reviews, therefore, not reaching enough of them to earn a rating. The eighth season was slated by Brian Lowry, previously responding positively to the series. He criticized the mystery of Red's identity, claiming it has been running for too long without a revelation and ended up not being provided. He wrote, "Like any network drama steeped in mythology, the procedural case-of-the-week format lost its luster as the clues and red herrings piled up, until ''The Blacklist'' went from a hit to (mostly) an afterthought, certainly in terms of its declining ratings".

The ninth season of the series went unnoticed by critics, as it featured no reviews at all.

Ratings

*Note: The ninth episode of the second season, Luther Braxton, aired on a Sunday at 10:38 p.m, with Super Bowl XLIX as its lead-in.

Accolades

Other media

Publications

Titan Books released an official comic book series based on the series, written by Nicole Phillips and drawn by Beni Lobel. The series' crew is working in the project as well. Comic book editor David Leach shared his experience on reading it, saying that the comic is ''a true extension of the television series'', introducing different views on the fan-favourite characters.

Issue #1 was launched July 22, 2015, in both comic book and digital stores. The comic series ran across two major storylines and introduced new criminals that were never featured in the series before. The first one, ''The Gambler'', was introduced under the number 148 and ran across the first five volumes in 2015, with the final collection appearing in stores on April 5, 2016. The second one, entitled ''The Arsonist (No. 123)'', also continued for five volumes, all of them being published through 2016. The final compilation was released in September 2016 for sale.

Comic books made a huge impact on the fate of the series. While producing the animated scenes for season 7 finale, the style of the characters was loosely based on the ones from the comics, as well as the used locations and special effects. The comics received generally favorable reviews.

There are also two novels based on the series, also introducing new criminals, focusing entirely on capturing them. The first one was written by Steven Piziks under the title ''The Beekeper'' and was published worldwide by Titan Books on November 29, 2016. The second one, ''The Dead Ring'', written by Jon McGoran, was published on March 28, 2017, also by Titan Books.

Games

Mobile game

The mobile game ''The Blacklist: Conspiracy'' was released on June 23, 2016, by Gameloft for Android, iOS, and Windows devices. As a member of the task force, the player can interact with Reddington, Cooper, and other members and interrogate potential suspects and witnesses. The game mainly consists of searching for missing items in different environments, as well as mini games to further the investigations. Players can also make decisions that alter the route of the story.

City Hunt

After NBC announced that ''The Blacklist'' would change its slot from Mondays to Thursdays after the release of Luther Braxton during Super Bowl XLIX, they launched a city hunt event called ''Red Is on the Run to Thursdays'' (originally ''Red Across America''). The participants had to search across the city to find Red's doppelgänger, left by Reddington in order to get lost from the FBI. The first person to find him in his city is awarded $500, the second one gets a prise of $300, and the third receives $200, as well as exclusive merchandise. ''The Blacklist'' official accounts on ''Twitter'' and ''Facebook'', in addition to NBC and CBS news affiliates and regional stations published hints on their location through the hunt.

The competition was held from February 2 to February 5, 2015, in 25 cities across the United States, including New York, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Sacramento and Seattle. In the conclusion, on February 9, 2015, a national $25000 lottery was held, where the participants had to answer the questions about the recently released '' Luther Braxton Conclusion''. The winner is a resident of Washington, D.C., which was announced in ''The Blacklist'' social media accounts.

Spin-off

In March 2016, NBC began developing a spin-off series, created and produced by the crew of ''The Blacklist'', with the official announcement regarding the cast and crew was given on March 29, 2016. Ryan Eggold was set for the lead role, playing Tom Keen, with a family relations buildup similar to what seasons 7 and 8 of the original series introduced. It follows Tom leaving Washington, D.C. for New York City, where he discovers the secrets of his past and learns the truth about his mother, Susan Hargrave (née ''Halsted''), and his father, Howard Hargrave, who was presumably dead. As Tom works at Susan's security firm, he leads her to the truth about Howard being alive, which develops into a rivalry between Susan and Howard, forcing Tom to choose his allies.

Famke Janssen and Terry O'Quinn were cast as Susan and Howard Hargrave, respectively. Janssen joined the cast since the beginning of developing, reprising her role from the original series, while O'Quinn was cast on December 12, 2016. Edi Gathegi, Tawny Cypress and Adrian Martinez also reprised their roles from ''The Blacklist'' as Mathias Solomon, Nez Rowan and Dumont, respectively. With all supporting cast appearing through the third season of ''The Blacklist'', episodes "Susan Hargrave" and "Alexander Kirk" served as a backdoor pilot for the series, to that date unnamed.

On May 14, 2016, an eight-episode pickup for the series, which was entitled ''The Blacklist: Redemption'', was announced by NBC. David Amann joined as a fifth executive producer alongside Bokenkamp, Eisendrath, Davis and Fox. It aired in the same Thursday slot as ''The Blacklist'', with the latter taking a break and departing Eggold for the spin-off. It premiered on February 23, ended on April 13 and the next month it was canceled after one season due to low ratings. Eggold continued his role on the fifth season of ''The Blacklist'', his final one before his initial departure. Despite low ratings among audiences aged 19–49, it received generally favorable or mixed reviews from critics, with no score on either Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic.

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