It's Officially The End Of An Era For The Blacklist

Published Aug 21, 2026, 9:30 AM EDT Zach Moser has been writing for ScreenRant since 2022, covering movies, classic TV, and streaming TV. His areas of expertise cover a wide range of genres with a particular interest in horror and drama, and the conversations around the TV and film industry. When he's not covering the latest film releases or chronicling the latest season of a new show, he's writing humor pieces for McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Slackjaw, and Points In Case or working on short stories and his second novel. After 13 years, an era of television that began with The Blacklist has now officially come to an end. The Blacklist ran for 10 seasons between 2013 and 2023, following the unlikely pairing between one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives in Red, and the FBI itself. With his little blacklist of wanted criminals, Red helps the FBI find the world's most reprehensible criminals. Along the way, Red does what he can to keep himself out of jail, and one step ahead of the people he's gotten one over on. It's a show built almost entirely on Spader's back, and it's also his only TV role since 2013. In fact, he's only appeared in two other projects since 2013. One was a small role in the little-seen 2014 film, The Homesman, and one as the main villain of Avengers: Age of Ultron. For 13 years, The Blacklist has been the final word for Spader on TV, and basically his only major role. That changes with VisionQuest. The third MCU TV show in the trilogy that includes WandaVision and Agatha All Along, VisionQuest now tells Vision's (Paul Bettany) story. Set to debut in October 2026 for an eight-episode miniseries, VisionQuest follows Vision after he's been resurrected as he tries to understand who he is. In order to do so, Vision speaks with the various A.I. personalities encoded into his programming. One of these A.I. programs is Ultron, once again played by James Spader. This will be Spader's first non-The Blacklist role in 11 years, and his first non-The Blacklist TV role in 13 years. James Spader's Role As Raymond "Red" Reddington Is One Of The Best Of His Career MovieStillsDB Maybe Spader didn't want to be in many other projects during his time as Red on The Blacklist because he was giving so much of himself to it already. His role as Red is probably the best of his illustrious career, which includes multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations as well as some fantastic cameos. He received two Golden Globe nominations for The Blacklist, but more than that, the show simply would not work without him. Over ten seasons, there were plenty of poor decisions and dead-end plots, but as long as Spader was doing Spader things, the series remained a must-watch for fans. Spader is always in control as Red, but he is capable of overestimating himself, and that's when he can get into trouble. It's a bit of a Captain Jack Sparrow part, where you always want to see Red succeed, you know he likely will, but there's enough chance of him failing that there's some suspense in the story. Ultron Will Look Different In VisionQuest When the first Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer dropped, one of the first things that people got excited for was that Spader would be playing Ultron. His heavy, over-annunciated, sarcastic voice was perfect for a sentient robot who believes that all of humanity is an absolute waste of time. Sadly, we never got to see Spader actually appear. It seems like that won't be the case in VisionQuest. Spader is set to both provide the speaking role for Ultron and portray the human avatar he uses to converse with Vision. It's been a long time since we've had Spader on screen; it's great that we'll be getting more than just his voice. Release Date October 14, 2026 Network Disney+ Showrunner Terry Matalas Cast James D'Arcy J.A.R.V.I.S. Directors Christopher J. Byrne, Gandja Monteiro Writers Terry Matalas Franchise(s) Marvel Cinematic Universe Creator(s) Terry Matalas