The Blacklist Renewed For Season 5 At NBC

Break out your best fedora and spend the day sipping the finest of spirits, because The Blacklist is heading to Season 5 later this year. It's good news for fans and cast members alike, who all experienced brief moments of worry when viewership and ratings for Season 4 dropped and potentially hinted at a doomed future. Now that we no longer have to fret about losing our favorite FBI task force and secret-keeping renegade, let's talk details regarding Season 5.

While The Blacklist: Redemption remains in the dark for either a renewal or cancellation, Variety says Season 5 of The Blacklist is set for 22 episodes. Barring Season 3's additional episode ordered, this has been the standard for the series thus far, so there's nothing unusual there. While we're just over a week away from seeing the conclusion of Mr. Kaplan's revenge rampage, it has been stated that the end of Season 4 will reveal the connection between Raymond Reddington and Elizabeth Keen. Teases have bounced around concerning Keen's mother having an affair with Reddington, which could confirm the father theory, as well as the seemingly less interesting "No, he's not her dad," side of it. Season 3's fake death was a big cliffhanger that's hard to live up to, but Season 4 has thrown some twists and turns that lead me to believe something huge will set up Season 5. Some spoilers for recent episodes are below.

For example, how many fans of The Blacklist had their hearts in their throats when it was initially believed Reddington's right-hand man Dembe was the mastermind behind this entire plot? I kid you not, it ruined my night and I was so relieved when the team finally learned that Mr. Kaplan had recovered from Reddington's gunshot, meaning Dembe was in the clear. Seeing all the flashback scenes between Kaplan and the young Masha/Liz have made it hard to watch this war unfold. Without knowing Reddington's motivation, we have no idea whether or not Elizabeth could be losing one of her true mother figures. Of course, no one is assuming that perhaps Red loses this battle right? Considering his seemingly endless bag of tricks when Kaplan removes a close ally, I can't see it happening.

Plus, with 3 episodes remaining in Season 4 -- tonight's and the two-part finale, I think it's safe to say whatever the connection between Liz and Reddington is, it'll play a big part in the story of Season 5. The Blacklist is all new tonight on NBC at 10 p.m. ET and might lead to the answer as to who, if not Mr. Kaplan, was hired to target Liz? While we count down the hours to our answer and next week's finale make sure you're ready for the break before Season 5 by checking out our list of new and returning shows making their debut this Summer.