Finally, some good news for Red and Liz! Raymond "Red" Reddington is currently in a very bad place on The Blacklist Season 6, but if his show is coming back for Season 7 -- that has to be a good sign, right? Not that there was really any fear that James Spader's sly antihero wouldn't find his way out of his latest jam, even if it's THIS kind of jam.
According to Deadline, NBC just gave an early renewal to The Blacklist for Season 7. Season 6 just got started in early January 2019, and we're currently up to Episode 11 as of this coming Friday, March 15. This season is meant to have 22 episodes, like most of the previous seasons.
Deadline added that the Season 7 pickup was in the works for a while after the standard six-year cast contracts were up. So James Spader (Red), Megan Boone (Elizabeth Keen), Diego Klattenhoff (Donald Ressler), and Harry Lennix (Harold Cooper) have all signed on for another year.
What about Hisham Tawfiq as Dembe? There's no word on him or the other cast members yet, but that doesn't mean anything bad. Deadline just mentioned those four original series regulars as returning for Season 7. Hisham Tawfiq and Amir Arison (Aram Mojtabai) were recurring cast members back in Season 1. Mozhan Marnò (Samar Navabi) joined as a regular in Season 2.
As to when The Blacklist Season 7 may premiere? It's not clear yet. Most of the past seasons premiered in the fall, with Season 6 as the exception in its January midseason bow.
The Blacklist has been all over the TV schedule since it debuted in 2013, actually getting five different timeslots on four nights in the past six seasons. It started on Mondays, with The Voice as a lead-in, which definitely helped it get a lot of viewers and strong demo ratings. It's currently on Fridays, and still picking up around 4 million viewers a week, with a nice little boost coming from the recent two-episode event.
The Blacklist's March 8 episode seemed like it would show Red's big prison break. And ... SPOILER ALERT ... it almost did. But through some miscommunication with Liz, Red ended up being recaptured. The plan backfired big time, because he had chosen to plead guilty and was sentenced to death. Red never figured he'd have to face execution, since he had that whole prison break planned -- complete with Dembe and a helicopter! -- but it didn't work out. Now Liz is rushing to find this "man from Cairo" as a Hail Mary pass to save Red.
If there's a Season 7 with James Spader returning, Red's "dire" death penalty situation must be resolved somehow. And if Megan Boone returns too, he must not kill her -- yet -- for her ultimate betrayal. He doesn't know that full story yet.
The March 15 episode is called "Bastien Moreau" with the March 22 episode called "Bastien Moreau: Conclusion," with guest star Christopher Lambert featured in both episodes. Find out what happens as The Blacklist Season 6 continues Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, as one of the many shows now airing in midseason 2019.
