As fans of The Blacklist quickly discovered this summer, the season 8 finale was the last episode for Megan Boone's character. In June, news broke that Megan wouldn’t be reprising her role and would be leaving the show after eight years. Unsurprisingly, Blacklist fans immediately took to Twitter to share their disbelief with the actress's departure.
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“WHAT?? I wish Megan all the best but I can't imagine the show without her. Thank you Megan for 8 awesome seasons of The Blacklist!” one person wrote. “Most horrible news ever, not sure about the show now! 😭💔,” another added. “Love you Megan 😭😭♥️♥️♥️,” a different fan said. “Going to miss her 😔,” a follower commented.
That said, there were also folks who suspected Megan would be leaving all along. “I knew it! 😑😔,” a person tweeted. “We kind of knew that. The season was setting up for [her] departure,” someone else wrote. “I had a feeling Megan Boone was leaving. She was MIA for 8 episodes this season,” another said at the time.
Why did Elizabeth “Liz” Keen [a.k.a. Megan Boone] leave The Blacklist?
As some observant fans noted, Liz’s departure wasn’t spontaneous. In fact, Megan began discussing her exit with writers of the hit NBC criminal drama long before The Blacklist was renewed for season 9. According to Deadline, the decision was mutual and writers were given ample time to thoughtfully craft Liz’s final arc on the show.
On June 5, Megan posted nearly two dozen photos on Instagram with her fellow cast members to commemorate the end of filming for season 8.
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While it’ll take some getting used to not seeing Megan and her character, Liz, in new episodes of The Blacklist, we can’t wait to see what she does next. So far, we've seen Megan guest star in Amazon’s fantasy historical drama The Underground Railroad. After portraying Miss Lucy in the second episode of the limited series, she wrote on her Instagram: “It’s the kind of creative challenge I’ve always wanted, and I’m so proud to be a breath in the body of this epic masterpiece.”
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The Blacklist spoilers follow.
The Blacklist season nine is almost at an end over in the States but over here in the UK fans have been gagging to hear when we'll finally be let in on Reddington's latest drama.
With season 10 being given the greenlight, we know there's no sign of the series slowing down for at least another year, but as always us Brits are always a few steps behind what's going on.
Thankfully, after what seems like an age of waiting [and it really has been, we'll prove it in a second] we finally have some answers.
Here's everything you need to know about when you can finally catch up with The Blacklist...
The Blacklist season 9 release date: When will episodes air?
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Six whole months since season nine first premiered in the States, the UK will finally see what all the fuss is about when The Blacklist drops.
You can catch it Wednesday, May 11 at 9pm on Sky Max or alternatively on NOW TV.
Then your next mission, should you accept it, is to duck and dodge all the season-nine spoilers out there on the internet, especially as the finale is due to air in the US just over a week after on May 20.
The 22-episode season first launched in October 2021, but has been hit with issues which has seen it stop and start ever since on its home network of NBC in the States.
[So if it's any consolation, the US fans have had to make just as much of an effort... trying to figure out where the hell the show even was in the scheduling.]
Launching as planned on October 21, just five episodes in it was shifted in the TV line-up. It returned on December 9 after a two-week hiatus for just a week, before going on its holiday break, returning on January 6 to then play through to episode nine, when it was halted again for a brief spell. It eventually started running again on February 25.
All this toing and froing has been a bit of a rollercoaster for those trying to keep track of an already complicated plot, but it appears to have now balanced out.
The Blacklist season 9 cast: Who's in it?
NBC Universal
James Spader remains the leading man of The Blacklist, playing criminal mastermind-turned-supergrass analyst, Raymond 'Red' Reddington.
As for the other major players, there's Donald Ressler [Diego Klattenhoff], Harold Cooper [Harry Lennix], Dembe Zuma [Hisham Tawfiq], Alina Park [Laura Sohn] and Aram Mojtabai [Amir Arison].
But there will be no more Katarina Rostova [Laila Robins] after Red finished her off.
"Not only did Liz beg Red not to kill her mother, she insisted he not kill her," creator Jon Bokenkamp told The Wrap. "Liz was very clear. She drew a line in the sand, and Red stepped right over it.
"With that said, in defence of Reddington, he felt he had no choice but to kill Katarina. The moment that Dom 'told her everything', Red knew what he had to do. Can Liz forgive him? I don't know. This is a seismic shift in our story. It's going to redefine everything."
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In major news, Megan Boone has left the series. Her character, Liz, was shot by one of Neville Townsend's henchman during a showdown with Red in the season-eight finale. It was confirmed that the scene would be her last, with Megan bidding farewell to fans on Instagram.
"This experience, for me, has been an entire life inside of my own life," she wrote. "These eight years playing Liz Keen have helped me better define the world and myself, as she set out to do the same.
"As her story ends I am grateful, most of all for the people I shared this time with: my fellow cast members present and past, our incredible crew who carried every single day for all involved, and those of you we entertained."
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According to Deadline, that decision was "made early on" and was "mutual". Since the announcement, a number of publications have reported that Boone exited to work on other projects. Nothing as of yet has been announced, but we can't wait to see what she gets up to next!
And another big name has also taken his leave. The Blacklist's creator, Jon Bokenkamp, has moved on to pastures new.
"I wanted to write you directly to let you know that I've made the difficult decision to leave The Blacklist," he said on social media. "I love this show with all of my heart and it's been an incredible journey, but after eight years I feel it's time for me to step out of my comfort zone, try something new, and explore a few of the other characters and stories that have been crawling around in my head."
Bokenkamp went on to say that while he has "mixed emotions" about stepping away, he "genuinely believe[s] the series remains full of life, creatively strong, and that bright days lie ahead".
But John Eisendrath, who was c0-showrunner with Bokenkamp, remains attached to the show.
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With the death of Liz, there was bound to be some massive changes, seeing as she had some massive relationships within the dynamics of the show - both with Red and with Ressler.
Season nine shoots forward two years into the future, catching up on the lives of the FBI Task Force as they have all tried to move on from losing one of their own.
At the start of the season, it’s revealed the team has disbanded, with Red disappearing in the wake of Liz’s death. Though obviously it doesn't take long for them to rejoin forces, especially as Red has since discovered who may have been behind the attack on Liz. Old grudges and tensions die hard though and Red is determined to place the blame accordingly for what he believes was an avoidable death.
Dembe, who is now an FBI agent, proved to be the catalyst after he's injured and his partner is killed. Recruiting the task force to help, they get back to work to find Red. But obviously, even with Red back, their relationships are more fractured than ever, and two years without Liz has proven a massive knock to everyone.
Dembe tries to destroy Red's enemy in business, the Boukman Baptiste, but instead accidentally ends up killing his son. In an attempt to repent for his sins, Dembe later joins the FBI hoping to do some good.
Episode nine comes to a close with Red learning through GPS coordinates that Vandyke could not have followed Dembe on the day of Liz's murder meaning someone else led Vandyke to Liz.
Amends were made between him and Dembe and now the two are set on discovering who the mysterious person was that helped Vandyke.
Episode seven shows Ressler's life after the loss of Liz, in a special episode focusing on his reaction. Turns out, after finding her body, he immediately went after Red with a vengeance, and ended up in a drunken car accident, back on prescription medication, and turning in his gun and badge as he spiralled.
Thankfully, he finds solace in a hotel manager and her son, and two years later, he seems a bit more ready to take on the world without Liz.
Elsewhere in the series, there's also the issue of Red's health, which has led to speculation that he might be killed off. If season nine is to be the series' final outing, which many believe to be the case, that could be the perfect way to bow out.
We've had a confirmation of the season's timeline in a slightly unusual context. You may remember James Spader's reasoning for shaving his head for the Blacklist's pilot...
"Actors are burdened with everything else that they’ve done before that, any role that they’re playing, and I thought it would be nice to take off my hat as an entirely different person," Spader said during the Television Critics Tour in Beverly Hills [via EW].
"I thought it would be a great moment when he surrenders himself and takes his hat off and the juxtaposition of the shot with him in the long hair [that you see in his mug shot]," Spader continued.
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"The way his life has been for the last 20 years, he's moving from place to place. I thought that he should have a haircut that he could do himself, if he cares to, or he could go to some barbershop in Cambodia and cut his hair in 10 minutes. His clothes are like that too. He wears clothes that can go from a bank to a cave."
During a more recent interview on Late Night With Seth Meyers, Spader was quizzed by the host about the fact he's gone even shorter in season nine.
"I noticed from the clip you had a shaved head," Meyers said. "Is that a bald cap or did you actually…"
"No, no, no," Spader replied. "It's a shaved head. It isn't that much further than this," he said, gesturing to his own cropped cut.
"This year starts two years later, and he was, you know, sort of lost for a couple of years and came down with terrible mange, and so, terrible hot spots and they had to get rid of it — yuck — and start over."
The Blacklist season 9 trailer: When can I watch it?
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While there's no official trailer for the season as a whole, NBC made sure fans don't go without with a series of episode teasers every week.
Check out the latest teaser above, and check back in for all the latest news on what The Blacklist has in store next.
The Blacklist airs Fridays on NBC and is yet to get a release in the UK.
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