Published Mar 19, 2026, 1:45 PM EDT
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A 10-season show may be daunting for new viewers, but The Blacklist is one of NBC's best dramas to date. Starring James Spader as The Blacklist's antiheroic Raymond Reddington, the network crime drama ran for a full decade, finally drawing to a close in 2023. Three years later, however, the series is still a hot topic for espionage fans.
As is the case with any long-running title, NBC's spy show had its ups and downs. Yet, the best episodes of The Blacklist far outweigh the worst, and there's no denying its lasting impact on the crime drama genre. Consequently, prospective viewers can rest assured that the intrigue and action of The Blacklist is certainly worth the 218-episode investment.
The Blacklist Is A Captivating Twist On Typical Crime Dramas
An FBI Special Agent Teams Up With A High-Profile Criminal Mastermind
The 2010s had its fair share of crime procedurals, but The Blacklist immediately established itself as a more subversive option. The NBC hit had a prototypical righteous protagonist in the form of FBI agent Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone), a rookie criminal profiler with a mysterious past, complicated family history, and a seemingly loving husband, Tom (Ryan Eggold).
On Elizabeth's first day of work, however, Raymond "Red" Reddington unexpectedly surrenders himself to the FBI. Having evaded capture for decades as number four on the agency's list of Most Wanted criminals, Red suddenly appears to seek out counterterrorism expert Harold Cooper (Harry Lennix) and strike an unconventional deal: in exchange for total immunity, Red will betray his former peers.
Of course, his stipulations don't stop there. Red insists he can only deal with Elizabeth, to everyone's surprise— including Elizabeth herself. Cooper is instantly curious about their connection, but Elizabeth claims they've never met. Nevertheless, nobody is more suspicious of Elizabeth and Red's relationship than Donald Kessler (Diego Klattenhoff), a prickly special agent on Cooper's team.
Thus, a small task force of trained FBI agents forms a strange symbiotic relationship with a criminal mastermind to take down the most pressing threats to national security. The Blacklist's villains range from international mob bosses to terrifying domestic terrorists, but Elizabeth's profiling and Red's insider knowledge prove to be a winning combination to solve the early seasons' episodic cases.
The Blacklist Only Gets Better With Each Episode
The Overarching Story Is A Thrilling Slow-Burn
Though it originally started as a fairly standard detective procedural, The Blacklist's 10 seasons slowly grew more serialized, with central mysteries like Red's true identity running as steady undercurrents to the main drama. Each season's biggest antagonists morphed accordingly, becoming more and more ambitious as Cooper's task force garnered a prolific reputation.
|
Actor |
Character |
|
James Spader |
Raymond "Red" Reddington |
|
Megan Boone |
Elizabeth "Liz" Keen |
|
Ryan Eggold |
Tom Keen |
|
Harry Lennix |
Harold Cooper |
|
Diego Klattenhoff |
Donald Ressler |
|
Amir Arison |
Aram Mojtabai |
|
Mozhan Navabi |
Samar Navabi |
|
Hisham Tawfiq |
Dembe Zuma |
Furthermore, the ensemble cast expanded over time, allowing a diverse array of fascinating characters to join the action. While Spader's Reddington and Boone's Keen felt like full-fledged characters off the bat, every new batch of episodes revealed something new about their lives and, often, how they intertwine. Similarly, fan-favorite side characters gradually earned bigger roles on the central crime-fighting team.
The Blacklist truly hit its stride around season 3, but critics had wildly different reactions to the later entries. Following season 8's climactic finale, the show had to completely reinvent itself, meaning its last two years felt practically unrecognizable for longtime fans. Even at its lowest, however, The Blacklist set the gold standard for modern spy thrillers.
No Modern Spy Show Compares To The Blacklist
The NBC Hit Arguably Revived The Genre
There was once a time when subterfuge was all the rage, but the spy drama has been a flagging genre for decades. In its place, police procedurals have become a dime a dozen. The Blacklist toed a fine line between the two when it first premiered, but NBC's action drama undoubtedly helped breathe new life into spy stories at large.
The Blacklist kickstarted an entire franchise, which expanded with a comic book series of the same name, novels The Beekeeper (2016) and The Dead Ring (2017), a mobile game called The Blacklist: Conspiracy, and a one-season spinoff entitled The Blacklist: Redemption.
Plus, many believe The Blacklist has only gotten better with age despite its most notorious missteps. There are plenty of controversial plot twists and character arcs, but as a comprehensive series, the NBC original was a truly excellent thriller. While a worthy successor will surely emerge eventually, The Blacklist will remain the best modern spy drama for the foreseeable future.
Release Date 2013 - 2023
Showrunner Jon Bokenkamp
Directors Andrew McCarthy, Michael W. Watkins, Bill Roe, John Terlesky, Donald E. Thorin Jr., Christine Moore, Kurt Kuenne, Terrence O'Hara, Adam Weisinger, Mahesh Pailoor, Karen Gaviola, Stephanie A. Marquardt, Steven A. Adelson, Daniel Willis, Matthew McLoota, Bethany Rooney, Joe Carnahan, Paul A. Edwards, Alex Zakrzewski, David Platt, Jean de Segonzac, Jono Oliver, Michael Zinberg, Paul Holahan
Writers Jonathan Shapiro, Kelli Johnson, Brandon Margolis, Daniel Knauf, Dawn DeNoon, Aiah Samba, Dave Metzger, Justine Neubarth, Dave Thomas, Kim Newton, Vincent Angell, David Merritt II, Chap Taylor, Daniel Voll, Elizabeth Benjamin, John Zinman, Wendy West, Anthony Sparks, Jim Campolongo, Kristen Reidel
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Diego Klattenhoff
Donald Ressler
English (US) ·