‘The Blacklist’ Renewed for Season 9 at NBC

The Blacklist has officially been renewed for Season 9 at NBC. On Tuesday, TVLine reported that the James Spader drama would return for another season at the network. The current season premiered in November and has been doing fairly well ratings-wise with DVR playback and other means of non-traditional viewing factored in.

During the first few episodes of The Blacklist, Spader’s Reddington has been at odds with Megan Boone’s Liz. In the Jan. 22 winter premiere, Liz even attempted to kill Red by trying to cause him to perish in an explosion. She attempted to kill Red as revenge for him killing her mother, Katarina Rostova. As viewers know, Liz’s plan did not come to fruition. She failed to kill Red and alienated herself from her colleagues at the FBI.

“Liz and Red are going to war,” John Eisendrath, The Blacklist‘s executive producer, told TVLine. “The death of Katarina makes Liz more resolute than ever about getting answers to questions she’s been asking for seven years. She’s willing to burn every bridge and cross every line in search of the truth. Her resolution, plus all she’s learned from Red over the years about thinking like a criminal, makes her one of Red’s most formidable adversaries.”

While much of the current season has involved the drama between Red and Liz, fans can expect to see one major development incredibly soon — the top name on Red’s infamous blacklist. According to The Wrap, the name is set to be revealed in the Jan. 29 episode. The publication also interviewed Jon Bokenkamp around the time of the premiere, and he teased what else fans can expect during the course of Season 8. Bokenkamp addressed the issues between Red and Liz, saying that how “Liz handles this moment [the death of her mother] is going to define her. On one hand, she’s an FBI agent and we should expect her to do the right thing. On the other hand, she’s spent seven years learning from Reddington. The big question to me is: How much of Reddington’s darkness has rubbed off on her? How strong is that pull? How far will she sink and can she rise above this?”

“It’s interesting, after seven years I think that one of the most important people in Liz’s life is Ressler,” he added about Liz’s journey. “They really do care about each other — and, after all they’ve been through as partners, how could they not? That relationship is evolving and will continue to evolve this season. I don’t want to give anything away, but that relationship — it’s going to get complicated very fast.”