Explore the mystery of Raymond Reddington’s true identity in ‘The Blacklist’ with theories and subtle hints and the show’s intentional mystery.
The Blacklist kept its audience glued for almost a decade with its storytelling and the way it handled the mysterious elements of Raymond ‘Red’ Reddington. The series starred James Spader as the criminal mastermind giving himself up to the FBI. At its core, The Blacklist held the mystery of who Raymond Reddington actually is.
The show began with a promising premise where an ex-Naval Intelligence officer becomes the top criminal, walks in voluntarily through FBI headquarters as a partner for the agency to catch the most dangerous criminals worldwide. The only condition he makes is that he would only work with junior profiler Elizabeth Keen, aka Liz, played by Megan Boone.
This little arrangement started an entire decade of storytelling that would keep most viewers guessing. Fans observed each and every clue, every cryptic conversation between Red and Liz. The issue concerning Red’s real identity became just as interesting as any of the crimes he helped encounter in the series.
Raymond Reddington was not quite who he seemed
The fifth season saw the first major revelation about the identity of Reddington. Surprisingly, viewers got to know that the Raymond Reddington that everyone knew wasn’t at all the original Raymond ‘Red’ Reddington. A bag of bones proved that the real Reddington was dead, and what viewers have been following around was an imposter.
Jon Bokenkamp confirmed during an interview with Entertainment Weekly that he had planned the entire mystery and intended to build a strategic storyline. James Spader was the only one with complete knowledge of the entire truth from the beginning, which again shows the complexity behind his performance.
However, the mysterious nature of the show invited much speculation. There was always the possibility of Spader’s character being the actual Raymond Reddington. Red was seen to have a special ability to avoid fatal scenarios, and the way he manipulated certain events made this theory more believable.
Every piece of information introduced by the show resulted in more unanswered questions. Was he an imposter? The persona behind his actions could represent either a survivor or an altogether different possibility. The show just played around in this ambiguity, keeping one guessing most of the time.
Some theorized that Red might have survived the first confrontation that supposedly killed him. The show had incidents of such miraculous escapes. Among them, a notable one is in season 2, which showed Red’s exceptional survival skills.
Katarina Rostova might be Red in The Blacklist
The most promising theory of Red’s identity was based on Katarina Rostova, Liz’s mother. Fans come up with a theory as ‘Redarina’, which is actually Red becoming Katarina Rostova, assuming a new identity after the death of the original Raymond Reddington.
The series, after all, provided not very much but still some subtle, significant clues that could be used to support this theory. In season eight, episode Nachalo, it was shown that Katarina had already taken the identity of the actual Raymond Reddington, using his reputational securities to build a crime network, all for the sake of protection for herself and her daughter.
In the final moments of Season 8, the story strengthened this theory through its visual storytelling. When Megan Boone‘s Liz gets shot and falls on the ground, a montage cuts scenes of Katarina with Red, showing the memories that could not belong to Liz. The point of view was flipping between Red and Katarina, hinting that they were one and the same.
Moreover, there is a moment in the final season when Red has a conversation with Liz’s daughter, Agnes. She comments that he sounds “like such a mom,” to which Red replies, “I guess I just can’t help it.” The remark served as another hint about the Redarina theory.
Yet, despite these hints, the show never openly acknowledges it. Red never stated that she was born as Katarina Rostova, making it deliberately ambiguous and giving the fans space for their own interpretation, which is both interesting and frustrating.
Why The Blacklist never clarified the Raymond Reddington mystery
This was an intentional decision to keep Red’s full identity from being revealed. When Megan Boone left the show in season 8, the main narrative arc driving the identity mystery essentially ended. The focus of the show turned, and the need for a definitive answer regarding the mystery faded.
James Spader himself confirmed this in an interview with The Associated Press as he said,
I was very, very glad we were able to end it exactly the way we wanted to end it. It was deliberate and we weren’t taken by surprise in terms of when the ending was going to come. You’ll see that the ending has conviction and we commit to it.
The mystery became a part of the central structure of the show itself. The creators seemed to think the journey was more important than the destination. In this sense, piecing things together was more interesting for viewers than handing them the answer.
Interestingly enough, many fans suspected Redarina long before the show offered one more subtle confirmation. Over the years, the show laid out subtle hints, creating a storyline for the attentive and repetitive viewers.
The Blacklist taught viewers that watching something through mystery might sometimes surpass knowing its ultimate revelation. The actual identity of Raymond Reddington served as a storytelling device that kept viewers interested throughout all 10 seasons.
