James Spader's 218-Episode Crime Thriller Spinoff Deserved At Least 1 More Season

Published Sep 17, 2026, 2:00 PM EDT Liz Hersey is an Editor and Critic for ScreenRant's TV team, editing, reviewing, writing, and creating content about the iconic shows you love to watch. She began her editing career at ScreenRant in 2019, shortly after joining the site as a Writer that same year. With a passion for all things books, Liz frequently attends Toronto literary events and conferences, and loves interacting with her book lover community. In addition to being an avid reader of the romance and thriller genres, Liz is a writer of several short stories, and is currently at work on a young adult witch novel. When she's not working, reading, or writing, Liz can be found seeing movies at her local cinema, attending live jazz events, or curling up on the couch to binge her favorite TV shows. You can reach her at liz.h@screenrant.com. As streaming continues to dominate the TV landscape, it's become increasingly rare to see new crime thriller shows on traditional broadcast television, let alone any that become breakout hits. That's what makes James Spader's The Blacklist one of the last of its kind. Premiering in 2013 on NBC, The Blacklist centers on Spader's Raymond "Red" Reddington, a notorious fugitive on the FBI's Most Wanted list who turns himself in with the offer of helping the organization catch international criminals who happen to be on his personal "blacklist" — but only if he can work with rookie criminal profiler Liz Keen (Megan Boone). The Blacklist ran for 10 seasons, ending in 2023. Spader is a favorite actor for many generations of audiences, and his slick and charismatic antihero protagonist was a huge factor in The Blacklist's continuing success as streaming platforms like Netflix and Prime Video rose to prominence. After a backdoor pilot on The Blacklist, NBC even released a spinoff in 2017: The Blacklist: Redemption. Alas, The Blacklist: Redemption was canceled after one season due to low ratings and has completely faded into obscurity. It's a shame, because the Blacklist ​​​​​​spinoff had serious potential. The Blacklist: Redemption Was A Promising Continuation Of The Original Show The Blacklist: Redemption takes the original show's core concept of a young law enforcement professional navigating a dangerous relationship with a parental figure, and gives it a sleek, spy thriller twist. In the spinoff, Liz's husband, Tom Keen (Ryan Eggold), reunites with his biological mother, Susan "Scottie" Hargrave (Famke Janssen), and joins Halcyon Aegis, her covert mercenary organization. There, he learns that his presumed-dead father Howard (Terry O'Quinn), who founded Halcyon Aegis, is still very much alive, forcing Tom to pick a side in his parents' embittered, lethal rivalry. Without Spader's roguish charm, The Blacklist: Redemption admittedly loses something, but the Blacklist universe isn't compelling solely because of Red Reddington, and the spinoff series is a fun expansion. The Blacklist: Redemption also brings back memorable characters from the original show and explores sides of them that The Blacklist didn't. This is best seen with Matias Solomon (Edi Gathegi), a terrifying, loathsome villain from The Blacklist who forms an uneasy alliance with Tom in the spinoff. The Blacklist: Redemption dares to ask who is allowed to be morally grey — after all, we accepted Red Reddington without question — while being wholly entertaining at the same time. What The Blacklist: Redemption Season 2 Might've Looked Like With The Blacklist: Redemption season 1 ending on a major cliffhanger, season 2 would have likely picked up right where it left off. In what would become the Blacklist: Redemption series finale, Tom discovers the truth about his father: that Howard faked his own death, framing Scottie in the process, in order to build his dangerous quantum computing technology, which he has now completed. After having spent most of season 1 believing his mother was the villain, Tom would be forced to team up with Scottie in season 2 to stop Howard. The Blacklist: Redemption season 2 would also have featured more appearances from The Blacklist characters, very likely Liz. Though Liz died in The Blacklist season 8, she was alive when the spinoff's sophomore installment would have aired, and the Blacklist: Redemption season 1 finale hinged on the fact that Tom was planning on returning home for their daughter's birthday. There's also the possibility that Red Reddington would have been featured in some capacity. Though producers purposefully kept Red out of season 1 so that The Blacklist: Redemption could establish its own identity apart from the antihero, in retrospect, it may have been wise to feature the James Spader character. This likely wouldn't have given the new series the ratings bump it needed to justify a second season, but it hardly would have hurt. Alas, when The Blacklist killed off Tom Keen in season 5, Redemption's chances of being brought back died with him. Release Date February 23, 2017 Network NBC Series The Blacklist: Redemption Episodes 8