Mozhan Marno was ready to say goodbye to The Blacklist after five years on the show. That means viewers had to say goodbye to her character, Mossad agent Samar Navabi. Samar left the Task Force -- seemingly forever? -- in the powerful, heartbreaking second episode that aired Friday, March 29. Marno also shared her goodbyes on social media, thanking the show and fans for such a great experience, and also explaining that this was her decision. She's ready for the next chapter in her journey:
I can just picture people yelling out "Yo, Samar!" to Mozhan Marno. Honestly, that's probably going to continue. As she noted on Instagram, she made her decision to leave last summer -- which must've been when the producers were still working on the storyline for Season 6 -- and the producers granted her request to move on.
Mozhan Marno's Samar started on the show in Season 2 and became a series regular. In Season 5, Samar nearly drowned and went into a coma. She did eventually wake, and accepted the proposal from her beloved Aram (Amir Arison). However, that near-drowning left her with permanent brain damage.
Season 6 started in January, and the past few episodes have show much the damage was affecting Samar. It ultimately ended up harming her work. Last week in Season 6's March 22 episode, Samar told Cooper she resigned from the Task Force.
In the March 29 two-parter, Samar and Aram went on a romantic break together, but it wasn't meant to last. Mossad agents sent assassins after Samar, figuring she was now a liability with her brain damage, because it was only a matter of time before she slipped up and revealed secrets. Aram was actually the one who told Mossad about Samar's brain injury, thinking in his naive well-meaning way that he was helping her. Aram wanted to go on the run with Samar. But that's not what Samar wanted.
Instead, Samar exited solo and it was left to Red Reddington (James Spader) to tell Aram that Samar was gone, that Red had helped her disappear. Red had tried to change her mind, as he told Aram, but Aram was left so angry with Red (and probably with himself) that he 1) punched Red and then 2) started a whole war with Red that will continue into this Friday's April 5 Episode 15.
So now Samar is gone -- off the grid, disappeared -- and even though it's possible she could return someday, it doesn't feel as likely as it did last week. Sometimes stars do leave for a break and come back for the finale, and it would be great to have Aram and Samar reunite again at the very end. But it feels like that would be something that would only happen at the very end, since Samar made it clear she's going into hiding from the international assassins who will kill her if she pops back on the grid.
Right now, Aram is very angry and we'll see that play out next in "Olivia Olson," which airs Friday, April 5 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC. That is Episode 15 of 22 planned for this season. We do know more is coming next year, though, since NBC already renewed The Blacklist for Season 7. Will that be the final season, finally giving fans the answers on Red? We'll see.
