'The Blacklist' Season 9 to Release New Episodes on Different Day in 2022
The Blacklist Season 9 is about to undergo a bit of a schedule change. After the final episode of 2021 – Season 9 Episode 6, "Dr. Roberta Sand, Ph.D." – aired on Thursday, Dec. 9, the long-running crime thriller will return to NBC in later the new year on an entirely different night, switching from Thursdays back to its original Friday night timeslot.
News of the schedule change comes from CheatSheet.com, which reported that following its end of the year break, The Blacklist is set to return to the network in its normal Thursday timeslot for Season 9, Episode 9, "Between Sleep and Awake," on Thursday, Jan. 6. The episode will reportedly center around Donald Ressler in a series of flashbacks. The Blacklist will continue airing in the 9 p.m. ET Thursday time slot through February 4, at which time it will then again go off air or the duration of the Winter Olympics from the 4th to the 20th. When the series returns with new episodes, they will be airing on Friday nights, its previous regular time slot, as the highly anticipated Law & Order revival takes the Thursday night time slot.
Originally premiering in 2013, the Jon Bokenkamp-created series follows Raymond "Red" Reddington, a former U.S. Navy officer turned high-profile criminal as he works with the FBI to catch his "blacklist" of mobsters, spies, and international terrorists. The upcoming schedule change is just the latest shakeup for the show, which kicked off Season 9 with a two-year time jump following the exit of series star Megan Boone. Boone left her role as Elizabeth "Liz" Keen in the Season 8 finale, with her character given a tragic send-off. Boon had starred on the show ever since its premiere, and in confirming her exit, wrote on social media that her time on The Blacklist "has been an entire life inside of my own life." She added that portraying Liz helped her "better define the world and myself, as she set out to do the same." She also thanked all of those she "shared this time with," including her fellow cast members, the crew, and guest stars.
Shortly after it was confirmed Boone would exit the show, The Blacklist suffered another shock when Bokenkamp announced that he would also be leaving the series. At the time, Bokenkamp wrote, "I love this show with all of my heart, and it's been an incredible journey, but after eight years I feel it's time for me to step out of my comfort zone, try something new, and explore a few of the other characters and stories that have been crawling around in my head."
The Blacklist Season 9 returns to NBC with new episodes on Thursday, Jan. 6 at 9 p.m. ET. It will go on a brief hiatus between Feb. 4 and 20th before switching to Friday nights.