For the past five seasons, The Blacklist has premiered in the fall with either a September or October premiere date.
Fans are patiently waiting for The Blacklist to premiere again, as it was expected that the show would follow in its normal timeslot. However, there have been some changes at NBC and The Blacklist has been pushed back until January 2019. According to EW, the show will also get a Friday night timeslot.
NBC has confirmed that the show will return with a 22-episode season, which is a full season as all other seasons have also included 22 episodes.
The show was renewed on May 12, 2018 — just four days before the Season 5 finale, and fans expected that the show would return in September. The network has not officially explained why it is delayed, but Amir Arison did post a photo to his Instagram account revealing the FBI team is back in front of the cameras.
The Blacklist has been a huge success for NBC. The show averaged 8.8 million viewers and a 1.6 rating in the 18-49 demographic in its fifth season.
The fifth season finale ended with a game-changing conclusion, as viewers learned Raymond Reddington, played by James Spader, was not who he said he was.
The man who had protected Liz the entire time was just an imposter. Redmond was dead and it was his bones that were in the duffle bag that the team had been hunting down throughout season five.
In addition, Aram Mojtabai, played by Amir Arison, proposed to Samar Navabi, played by Mozhan Marnò, while she was in a coma. When she awoke, she accepted his proposal. In other words, there are plenty of storylines that could be discussed and developed in the sixth season of the show.
According to a thread on Reddit, fans are not thrilled with the news that the show will be moved to Friday nights. As some users pointed out, a Friday timeslot could be the kiss of death for a television show, even one that has been on the network for five years.
However, The Blacklist has been approved for a sixth season, which is longer than many other shows on the network. Loyal fans may be able to keep the ratings up despite the switch to Friday night.
One of the main characters, Tom Keen, played by Ryan Eggold, was killed off during the fifth season. Keen was trying to learn the truth about Raymond Reddington’s bones and share the news with Liz, as Liz is the daughter of Raymond.
While fans had hoped Tom wouldn’t be dead, Ryan Eggold has moved on. He’s now the primary character on NBC’s new show, New Amsterdam. However, Eggold did make an appearance in the season finale, as Liz visited his grave to tell him what she had accomplished in her search for the truth.
Eggold starred in The Blacklist spin-off, The Blacklist Redemption, which was an eight-episode series where Tom Keen goes after his wife’s attacker. The show, which aired in 2017, provided some information that was later used in The Blacklist, including the fact that Tom’s biological mother is Susan “Scottie” Hargrave. She resurfaces in The Blacklist after Tom’s murder in the show’s fifth season.
It will be interesting to see how the writers tackle this new revelation that Raymond Reddington is not who everyone thought he was. How will Keen handle their relationship going forward?
The Blacklist will return to NBC and it’s possible that fans should look for a January release date.