‘The Blacklist’: Tom Keen Makes a Surprise Return

The Blacklist season finale a surprise character return that most fans were not expecting: Tom Keen (Ryan Eggold)

Keen died during the midseason finale after being attacked by Ian Garvey, the season’s main antagonist. He is still dead, but appeared as a figment of his wife Elizabeth Keen’s (Megan Boone) imagination.

The moment happened when Liz went to Tom’s grave to reflect on the events that had just transpired. There she explains to Tom how she fooled Red and learned what was in the infamous black duffel bag of bones.

“While it didn’t work like I planned, it worked even better,” she tells Tom.

It turns out, the “Red” that has been on The Blacklist for the entire series, played by James Spader, has apparently been an impostor.

While double-crossing Red and aligning with the episode’s villain, Liz looked in the bag and saw DNA test results that identified that the bones inside belonged to the true Red.

“Those bones in that bag are Raymond Reddington’s. My father.” Liz says. “This man is an impostor. Why he came into my life, why he took [Tom’s] life… I’m gonna figure all that out.”

This marks Eggold’s first return appearance on The Blacklist since departing the series.

Just after he exited the series, Eggold looked back on his time on the show with Entertainment Tonight.

“I feel incredibly lucky to have played a role with such a uniquely dynamic evolution,” Eggold said. “I’m grateful for the time spent working with Megan, James and the entire cast. I’m thankful to the incredibly hard-working crew for consistently making the show better. Sony and NBC have both been deeply supportive, conscientious and adept in managing the show.”

He added, “I will miss this TV family immensely and diligently look forward to the opportunity to embody new characters and tell new stories.”

Eggold will soon return to NBC win the medical drama New Amsterdam. Eggold plays Dr. Max Goodwin, a hospital’s new medical director who strives to overhaul the entire infrastructure.

The series has been picked up by the network to debut in fall 2018.

The Blacklist airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.

Photo Credit: NBC / Will Hart