Crime on television can be quite something as it often brings audiences in contact with charismatic and enticing crime bosses. In NBC’s crime drama, The Blacklist, we were introduced to one such character in Raymond “Red” Reddington, played by James Spader. The series wove an intricate web of stories that ranged from the actual blacklist itself, the real identity of the Boston crime boss and his relationship with another key character in the series, Megan Boone’s Elizabeth Keen. Keen herself would depart in Season 8, with the show deciding to kill her off. The Blacklist was renewed for a tenth and final season on NBC in 2022, and its somewhat ambiguous ending didn’t quite land with its audience.
The Blacklist Season 10 would end with Red being killed by a bull after escaping to Spain. Donald Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff) would find Red’s body and place his hat on the body. Speculations have remained in the years since the show ended regarding why The Blacklist ended the way it did, with the network fingered as possibly having interfered in the story. Despite all the confusion regarding the show’s ending, Spader has been candid about it, noting in an AP conversation just prior to the finale, that The Blacklist ended exactly as planned. Spader explained:
“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…I really felt like this was complete and I loved how it really completed a circle, in a way,” he says. “It wasn’t just an unbroken line from point A to point Z, but it was a circle of sorts.”
The Blacklist lasted for ten seasons while enduring a number of shakeups with regard to its cast. Spader’s comments reveal a conviction that the show was envisioned to end that way, debunking the theory that perhaps the writers were caught napping and had to conjure any sort of ending. “You’ll see that the ending has conviction and we commit to it,” the actor said.
Who Is Behind ‘The Blacklist’?
In addition to Spader, Boone and Klattenhoff, the series stars Amir Arison, Hisham Tawfiq, Laura Sohn, and Harry Lennix. In addition to starring, Spader serves as executive producer on the series. Also, executive producing are John Eisendrath, Jon Bokenkamp, John Davis, and John Fox of Davis Entertainment. Lukas Reiter, Laura A. Benson, Daniel Cerone, Sean Hennen, Allison Glock-Cooper, and T Cooper also executive produce. The series is a production of Davis Entertainment in association with Sony Pictures Television Studios and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.
