Warning! The following contains spoilers for Blindspot Season 5 premiere "I Came To Sleigh." Read at your own risk!
Blindspot didn't necessarily open with a bang to kick off its final season, but fans certainly saw a massive one later in the episode. The FBI team had been hanging out in a safe house when they got a call from Director Matthew Weitz. Madeline Burke had discovered their location, and had launched a drone in their direction in an effort to see them all blown to smithereens.
Those inside the safe house quickly tried to make their way to an underground passage to get to safety, but were only just inside the entrance when the missile hit. Jane, who was the only person outside the safe house, ran to the wreckage unsure of who was alive and who wasn't. In the end most everyone survived, save one. Reade had shifted his weight in the debris to save Zapata, but crushed himself in the process.
It was a heroic sacrifice for Reade, who knew that by creating space to save Zapata, he'd die in the process. The Blindspot team took the death pretty hard of course, but none so much as Zapata who was seen bawling outside once alone. The two had only just gotten back together, and now she has to live with the knowledge that he died so that she could survive.
It was a sad moment, but as Blindspot creator Martin Gero told TVLine, a necessary move. Gero explained the decision as the show heads towards the finish line, saying this:
There were some business reasons why we needed to probably lose a lead character this season, and that started driving the conversation. And then creatively, we started to talk about who that would need to be. What would impact the story in a great way for the last season? As you get deeper into the season, I think you’ll see why it needed to be Reade for a bunch of reasons. His death plants a seed that ripples off into a bunch of amazing stories that we couldn’t necessarily do if someone else died.
So for any Blindspot fans upset that actor Rob Brown won't be around for the show's final run, there is some upside to this exit. More stories are coming that will only grow from this explosive premiere, and hopefully, there will be some justice for Reade before this series is all said and done. There could also be more high-profile exits as well. Who can say when Blindspot went this strong out the gate?
Blindspot airs on NBC Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. ET. As always, continue to stick with CinemaBlend for all the latest news happening in television and movies.
