Even though The Blacklist was not on the list of series returning to NBC in the 2022 TV premiere schedule, the show is making sure that exciting things are coming for those who wait. After news over the summer that Season 10 would kick off with a major throwback twist, a new series regular guarantees that a tragedy from the first season will indeed be revisited. Prepare to say hello to an actress playing the daughter of the late Meera Malik!
As longtime fans will remember, Meera Malik (played by ER alum Parminder Nagra) was a member of the Task Force back in the first season before being killed in the finale, and she was not one of the Blacklist characters lucky enough that their seeming “death” was faked. Now, Deadline reports that actress Anya Banerjee is coming to the long-running drama to play Siya Malik, the daughter of Meera Malik who has grown up to become an Intelligence Officer for MI6 as a series regular.
Meera’s daughter joining The Blacklist isn’t altogether surprising after the reports earlier this year, but Anya Banerjee’s status as a series regular means that viewers will presumably see a lot of her, and the show isn’t just revisiting the tragedy of her mother’s death in a short arc. That’s not to say that every minute of her screentime will be devoted to the death of Meera, but the initial news about Siya stated that she was expected to come to the Task Force with the goal of finding answers about the work that led to her mom’s death.
The Task Force could probably use all the help that they can get in Season 10. The Season 9 finale said goodbye to two series regulars. Laura Sohn’s exit as Grace Park was set up by the reveal that she’s pregnant and wanted to take a medical leave from the Task Force, and thinking that her life might go in some different directions. Amir Arison’s exit as Aram Mojtabai seemed less permanent, as he just wanted to take some time away from the FBI after a very difficult year, and the actor left the door open to possibly return in a message to fans.
Whether or not Aram does return, the remaining members of the Task Force could undoubtedly use the help of an MI6 agent on a regular basis, so Siya should be an important addition to Season 10. Actress Anya Banerjee is a newcomer to network television as a recent graduate of Columbia University, so there should be no preconceived notions about her as an actress. And it’s a good sign that a show heading into its tenth season is able to both revisit its earliest years and explore some fresh storylines in doing so.
The only bad news is that fans still have a while to wait before seeing Siya in action with the returning cast of series regulars, which includes James Spader, Diego Klattenhoff, Harry Lennix, and Hisham Tawfiq. The Blacklist doesn’t return until the midseason TV schedule, which can mean as early as January 2023 and as late as March.
That said, the majority of the show’s midseason premieres have aired in the first week of January, so hopefully we won’t have to wait too long into the new year. That at least would be a relief, in light of reports that NBC may be looking to save money in ways that could affect The Blacklist.
If you want to revisit past episodes of The Blacklist while waiting for the Season 10 premiere, you can find the last five episodes of Season 9 streaming with a Peacock subscription and all nine seasons with a Netflix subscription.
