List of The Blacklist characters

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The Blacklist is an American crime drama television series that premiered on NBC on September 23, 2013. Raymond "Red" Reddington (James Spader), a former government agent turned high-profile criminal, who had eluded capture for decades, voluntarily surrenders to the FBI, offering to cooperate on capturing a list of criminals who are virtually impossible to catch. He insists on working with a rookie profiler by the name of Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone). The show also stars Diego Klattenhoff, Ryan Eggold and Harry Lennix. Executive producers for the series include Jon Bokenkamp, John Eisendrath, and John Davis for Sony Pictures Television, Universal Television, and Davis Entertainment.

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Original main cast member Parminder Nagra left the cast at the end of the first season. In December 2013, the show was renewed for a second season, Amir Arison was promoted to the main cast and Mozhan Marnò joined the cast. In February 2015, The Blacklist was renewed for a third season with Hisham Tawfiq promoted to main cast. [1] In May 2017, the show was renewed for the fifth season with Eggold leaving the show. In May 2018, the show was renewed for the sixth season with Marnò leaving on March 29, 2019. In March 2019, The Blacklist was renewed for its seventh season with Laura Sohn joining the cast as a recurring character. She was promoted to series regular on May 7, 2020.

On June 15, 2021, during Season 8, Megan Boone reported that she was leaving the show. On May 27, 2022, after Season 9, both Amir Arison and Laura Sohn announced they were also leaving the series. [2] On October 7, 2022, Anya Banerjee joined the cast as Siya Malik. [3]

Cast overview

ActorCharacterPositionThe Blacklist Redemption
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
James Spader Raymond "Red" Reddington Confidential informant, FBI Main Does not appear
Megan Boone Elizabeth "Liz" Keen/Masha RostovaSpecial Agent, FBI (seasons 1-2, 4-8)
Special consultant, FBI (seasons 3-4)
MainDoes not appear Guest
Diego Klattenhoff Donald ResslerSpecial agent, FBI
Director of the Counterterrorism Division, FBI (season 3)
MainDoes not appear
Ryan Eggold Tom Keen/Jacob Phelps/Christopher Hargrave Covert operative MainDoes not appear Main
Parminder Nagra Meera MalikField agent, CIA MainDoes not appear
Nikita TewaniDoes not appearGuestDoes not appear
Harry Lennix Harold CooperDirector of the Counterterrorism Division, FBI
Special agent, FBI (season 9)
MainGuest
Amir Arison Aram MojtabaiSpecial Agent & Strategic and Tactical Technician, FBI (seasons 1-9)
Director of the Counterterrorism Division, FBI (season 9)
Recurring MainGuestDoes not appear
Mozhan Marnò Samar NavabiSpecial Agent, FBI
Former Mossad agent
Does not appearMainDoes not appearGuestDoes not appear
Hisham Tawfiq Dembe ZumaReddington's bodyguard (seasons 1-8)
Special Agent, FBI (seasons 9-10)
RecurringMainDoes not appear
Laura SohnAlina ParkSpecial Agent, FBIDoes not appearRecurringMainDoes not appear
Anya BanerjeeSiya MalikSpecial Agent and Intelligence Officer, MI6 Does not appearMainDoes not appear
Famke Janssen Susan Scott "Scottie" HargraveHead of Halcyon Aegis' Grey Matters branchDoes not appearRecurringDoes not appearMain
Edi Gathegi Matias SolomonA mercenaryDoes not appearRecurringDoes not appearMain
Tawny Cypress Nez RowanA mercenaryDoes not appearRecurringDoes not appearMain
Adrian Martinez DumontA computer hackerDoes not appearGuestDoes not appearMain

Raymond Reddington

Raymond Reddington is portrayed by James Spader, since 2013 The Blacklist - James Spader (cropped).jpg
Raymond Reddington is portrayed by James Spader, since 2013

Portrayed by James Spader

Raymond "Red" Reddington is an ex-United States Navy officer, presumed to be an officer of the Office of Naval Intelligence, and number one on the FBI's Most Wanted List. A U.S. Naval Academy graduate, he worked in US counterintelligence and was being groomed for admiral when something happened on his way home for the Christmas holidays. It is later revealed that Reddington was accused of committing treason by leaking information to the Soviet Union that led to the death of several American naval officers. Nicknamed "the concierge of crime", Reddington is known for brokering deals between criminals. He willingly surrenders to the FBI and provides information on a roster of criminals that he refers to as "the blacklist", dangerous criminals who are so careful to avoid leaving any traces behind that the FBI has not even detected their existence. His ethics are somewhat murky, and he espouses the use of some crimes (such as extortion, counterfeiting, torture, and murder) in the service of "the greater good". He uses his arrangement with the FBI to pursue his own secret agenda; it is revealed that he needed their help to find Berlin, a mysterious nemesis who had been attacking his organization.

He has an unexplained interest in Elizabeth Keen and knows personal secrets about her that she has never made public. He will stop at nothing to protect her and even goes as far as to block her memories of the fire she was trapped in. But she finally regains them and learns that her mother killed her father when she was a child after he had attacked her mother. Red explains that he never wanted Liz to end up like him and was trying to prevent that. He had a romantic affair with Liz's mother, Katarina Rostova, and it is implied several times that he may be Liz's biological father. No proof of this is ever shown, and Red himself initially denies it when directly confronted by Liz, although he does claim that he knew her father well. Red is confirmed as Liz's father in "Dr. Adrian Shaw: Conclusion", and in "Mr. Kaplan: Conclusion", he finally acknowledges this to Liz after she presents him with a DNA test confirming his paternity. In "Monarch Douglas Bank", it is revealed that Red used to be married to Naomi Hyland and has a daughter named Jennifer. In "Dr. Linus Creel", when he confronts Naomi about her, he discovers that Jennifer left after her marriage to Frank and hasn't tried to make contact since then.

After the death of Alan Fitch, Reddington comes into conflict with the Director, the new head of the Cabal. The Director does not believe that Reddington has the Fulcrum, a blackmail file that Reddington had used as leverage to force a stalemate with the Cabal, and wanted to end the détente and kill Reddington. In response, Reddington urgently begins seeking the Fulcrum and manages to collect various items needed to decrypt it. Finally, after he confesses to Liz that he had initially hired Tom Keen to enter her life and watch over her, she gives him the Fulcrum, after which he is shot by the Director's agents. However, he survives and continues to throw obstacles into Liz's path as she seeks to find out more about her mother. When Liz is framed by the Cabal for the assassination of Senator Hawkins, Reddington counters by gathering 11 of the world's top investigative journalists and giving them the information contained in the Fulcrum. He later helps Liz go on the run after she assassinates Attorney General Tom Connolly, a member of the Cabal.

Accompanied by Liz, Reddington goes on the run to gather various resources needed for his plan to bring down the Director and exonerate Liz. He eventually succeeds in forcing the Cabal to abandon the Director and then kills him. However, Red is unable to clear Liz completely of the killing of Tom Connolly, and she only returns to the task force as an asset like Red himself. He meets with Laurel Hitchin, who suggests he weakened the Cabal so that they would invite him to join it.

After watching Liz die in his arms, Dembe convinces Red to leave the van containing her body. After being told to stay away from Agnes by Tom in "Cape May", Red goes on a self-imposed exile to get away from everything and find better means to cope with Liz's death. He rescues a woman who attempted suicide one time and takes her back to the abandoned hotel. Only when a man talks to Red at the beach does he realize the woman he rescued was a ghost and it was she who tells him that he did save her, through channeling his grief in losing Liz. In "The Artax Network", Red finally visits Dom, the father of Katarina, and while he still blames him for what he has done, Dom reluctantly allows Red to stay. When Aram tracks him down to try to convince Red to help them again, he refuses to leave and sends Aram on his way. Dom later convinces Red to leave and honor his word to the FBI, saying that Red has good people who count on him. As a token of gratitude, Red fixes a C♯ key on Dom's piano and leaves. Red later visits Aram and tells him they have work to do.

In "Dr. Adrian Shaw: Conclusion", while Red is being held captive and threatened by Alexander Kirk, Red admits that he is in fact Elizabeth Keen's father. As Kirk goes to kill him, Red whispers something to Kirk that changes his mind and the two men disappear by the time the FBI arrives. Red later tells Liz that Kirk is "gone" but doesn't elaborate further and doesn't tell her that he's her father.

In "Lipet's Seafood Company", Red is berated by Cooper for letting Alexander Kirk go, but Red tells him that Kirk is gone and won't be coming back and moves on. Red works to meet with the president-elect, to whose campaign he contributed in exchange for his help with the Alexander Kirk situation, and is eventually able to secure a presidential pardon for Liz killing Tom Connolly. As a result, Liz can be reinstated as an FBI agent.

In "The Apothecary", Red is poisoned and needs the FBI to find Asa Hightower, the man who poisoned him. When confronting Marvin Gerard for not being at the dinner, he learns that Dembe has left him.

In "Dembe Zuma", Red finds out that Dembe left his side to find the traitor in his syndicate. Aram helps him out by procuring one name, Kathryn Nemec, whom Red recognizes as Mr. Kaplan. When confronting the man who housed her and shot Dembe, Red and Baz discovered he wired a bomb and escaped as he died in his house.

In "Requiem", Kaplan calls Red, and he confronts her for hiding Liz from him. She tells him she needed to do what she should've done years ago in keeping Liz away from him and mentions that she has just begun her revenge. When Red tries to claim that she helped build his syndicate tight, Kaplan reminds him that she is the one who knows where the bodies of the people he had killed are buried and that she hid them from the FBI over the years, including that of Diane Fowler. This makes Red worried when Kaplan reveals that they can be used to not only attack his syndicate but also destroy him from within.

In "Mr. Kaplan", many of Red's associates have broken rank and joined Kaplan in her plans for revenge. He also learns that Julian Gale, a rogue FBI agent, is working with her to procure the immunity deal between Red and the FBI. Red tries to appeal to Kaplan to end the war, but she refuses, telling him that Liz needs to know the truth.

In "Mr. Kaplan, Conclusion", Red takes Ressler to Hitchin's cleaner, Henry Prescott, to help him find a barrel marked back two years ago. When they open it, Red tells Ressler that he had just found Reven Wright. With the evidence, he and Ressler appeal to Hitchin for help. When she tries to refuse, Red tells her that unless she wants to be held accountable for both the task force's downfall and the murder of Wright, she better uphold her end of the bargain and end the indictment on the task force. Red tries to appeal to Kaplan again at the bridge, promising he won't shoot her. He is shocked when she decides to jump to her own death. Later on, Red is confronted by Liz, who tells him that she now knows he's her father. At Tansi Farms, Red and Dembe discover the suitcase buried there is gone and that they must get it back before Liz discovers the truth about how her mother, Katarina Rostova, died.

In "Ian Garvey: Conclusion", despite taking Garvey hostage and en route to collecting the skeletal remains of Katarina, Ian rams his sedan into another car, leaving Red and Dembe there as he escapes. Red later confronts Garvey after learning that the latter now knows that Liz is his daughter. Only then, Jennifer confronts Red for what he's done and the fact that Ian saved her and Naomi's life from their disappointment when they learned of his criminal career. Red then recognizes her from all the years. Despite Garvey shooting first, Red fires back and shoots him.

In "Sutton Ross", Red recovers the bag of bones and burns it in the presence of Dembe and Katarina's father Dom. However, unknown to Red, Liz was conspiring with Ross and Red's daughter Jennifer to learn the truth. Visited by a hallucination of Tom, Liz reveals what she has learned. The bones in the duffle bag may belong to the real Reddington and the man known as Reddington is possibly an imposter who murdered everyone who tried to reveal the truth to Liz. [4]

In "Rassvet", Dominic Wilkinson claims that Liz killed the real Raymond Reddington as a child, an event she had remembered in "Tom Connoly" and thought was Alexander Kirk. He further asserts that the man she knows as Raymond Reddington is "Ilya Koslov", a childhood friend of Katarina Rostova (Wilkinson's daughter) who believed her to be the love of his life. The imposter knew that the Cabal would work to discredit Reddington and his evidence against them contained in the Fulcrum, so he became Reddington using multiple plastic surgeries and forgers, ostensibly to prevent the Cabal from learning the truth and to protect Katarina. When Liz confronts Red with this information, he neither confirms nor denies the allegation, but seeks out Dominic to find out what he told her.

In "Orion Relocation Services", Reddington exposes his friend, Frank Bloom, as the real Ilya Koslov, casting further doubt onto Dominic's claims. In "Katarina Rostova", Katarina tells Liz that even she doesn't know who the imposter actually is and Dom lied to Liz about Reddington's past, leaving his real identity a mystery.

In "Nachalo", Reddington takes Liz to the heart of his empire – an old Soviet Cold War-era bunker in Latvia – where Liz finally learns much of the truth about the events surrounding both the real Raymond Reddington's death and the creation of the imposter. It's revealed that the real Reddington eventually realized that Katarina was spying on him not just for the KGB but also for the Cabal, and he created the Fulcrum before fleeing to America with Liz. Katarina chased him down along with a team of men, including Ilya, causing a fire to start when a candle got knocked over during the struggle. Liz shot her father to protect her mother, but the Fulcrum was lost and believed to have been destroyed in the fire while Reddington died of his wounds despite Katarina and Ilya's best efforts. Reddington's death is left unrevealed to the world, who, due to the evidence planted against him as a contingency by Katarina, would come to view Reddington as a traitor. It's also revealed that Dom did tell Liz most of the truth about the events surrounding Katarina and Ilya Koslov, but he had lied about who became the imposter Reddington. Liz learns that the woman she had known as Katarina Rostova is not, in fact, her mother but is instead an asset named Tatiana Petrova who was set up by Dom and Ilya in order to fake Katarina's death, inadvertently leading to Tatiana's husband's death instead. Tatiana later sought the real Katarina Rostova in order to get her life back and was killed by Reddington to protect Katarina's secret. Liz learns that it was in fact her mother who had constructed the man who would become the imposter Reddington, who used the legend that had grown up around Raymond Reddington following his disappearance in order to create a man who would be able to protect her daughter when Katarina couldn't. With the help of Katarina's old friend KGB agent Ivan Stepanov, Reddington stole the Sikorsky Archive, which became the foundation upon which he built his empire. Having learned the why behind the creation of Raymond Reddington, Liz tries to learn who he really is and where Katarina is, but Neville Townsend attacks the bunker, seriously wounding Liz and killing all of Reddington's men aside from Dembe. Retreating into a safe room, Reddington blows up the bunker with Townsend in it, stating that the source of his power is not the Archive but rather Liz, who is with him.

In "Konets", Reddington, who has been fighting an unidentified illness for some time, is revealed to be terminally ill and plans to have Liz kill him and take his place in exchange for a letter from her mother containing his true identity. Liz realizes that Reddington was the man behind the camera in one of the few pictures she has of her mother. Reddington states that he knew Katarina better than anybody and that if Liz knew his true identity before Reddington's death, she'd never agree to kill him. However, she changes her mind at the last minute but is shot by one of Townsend's surviving men and dies in Reddington's arms.

In Season 9, as Cooper reunites the task force, he seeks out Reddington and finds him in Cuba, where he lives with Weecha, his bodyguard, and Mierce, his healer. He is still devastated after Liz’s death, but when Dembe is in danger, he returns and helps renew his blacklist with a new criminal. When he is caught, Red refuses to leave and stays with the group. He wants to meet Agnes, but Cooper denies him, prompting Red to later ruin her life, but later accepts his deal and arranges a meeting with her.

In "Dr. Roberta Sand, Ph.D.", Agnes tells Red a clue she was told by Liz, which she could only know having read the letter about his true identity, which encourages him to start an investigation. He checks the letter for fingerprints, and a positive result comes out. Another clue he finds is a photo of Dembe and Liz sitting at the café with the letter three hours before Liz was killed. At first, he suspects Dembe since he does not figure out the company, but once Aram correlates the locations both telephones have visited, he states that they have not crossed till that moment, meaning Vandyke was sent there by someone else.

In "Boukman Baptiste", it is revealed that Red has vanished after the events of Season 8, leaving Dembe and his ruining empire. To save it, Dembe takes over before becoming an agent. After a talk with Marvin, he decides to come back to business and regain its lost glory.

In "Raymond Reddington: Good Night", hunted by the FBI again and growing increasingly ill, Red visits a villa in Spain to perform one last personal mission before allowing a bull to maul him to death in order to go out on his own terms. Ressler discovers Red's body shortly thereafter while Dembe reflects that with Red, it was never about the end of the story, but the adventure that he brought everyone on, and how Red had worked so hard to protect everyone from the worst of the worst criminals.

Elizabeth Keen

Elizabeth Keen has been portrayed by Megan Boone since 2013. The Blacklist - Megan Boone (cropped).jpg
Elizabeth Keen has been portrayed by Megan Boone since 2013.

Portrayed by Megan Boone

Elizabeth Scott Keen (Blacklister No. 1) is an FBI profiler. According to Reddington and the FBI, her birth name is Masha Rostova, and she was born in Moscow to Katarina Rostova, a Russian intelligence agent whom everyone regards as a "myth". Elizabeth has a mysterious and traumatic past: Her wrist bears a large scar from a fire she was trapped in as a child, and her only memory of her biological father is of him rescuing her from the fire. Reddington admits to blocking her memories of the fire, and she eventually regains her memory of the event, when she killed her father to protect her mother. Reddington had been trying to protect her from the knowledge when he blocked her memories.

She is the only person with whom Reddington is willing to work. She has yet to learn why, but he has told her that it has something to do with her missing father. While her adoptive father lay dying in the hospital, he insists to Red that Liz "deserves to know", but his death is hastened by Red to prevent Liz from "knowing". She develops a bond with Reddington as they continue to work together. The Director indicates there is a close personal connection between Liz and Red but refuses to tell her what it is. Her once-idyllic marriage to Tom Keen unravels when she discovers evidence that he is not the man he appears to be. After she finds out he was an agent hired by Berlin to keep her under surveillance, she has the marriage annulled. She keeps Tom imprisoned on an abandoned ship for several months, interrogating him. Eventually, she is forced to let him go in exchange for Berlin's location after he murders a harbormaster, Eugene Ames.

Local police investigate Ames's murder and have enough evidence to arrest Liz for her involvement, but she is saved by the intervention of Reddington, Cooper, then-assistant AG Connolly, and Tom himself. She also learns that she is the key to unlocking the mysteries of the Fulcrum and that she has unknowingly had the Fulcrum itself in her possession since childhood. With the help of Leonard Caul, she deciphers the Fulcrum's contents and confronts the Director with them. She is then unknowingly infected with a customized biological weapon by the Cabal and tricked into infecting their target, Senator Hawkins. The Cabal then frames her for Hawkins's assassination and for being a Russian spy. After shooting Tom Connolly upon learning of his involvement with the faking of Cooper's cancer and the Cabal's sinister intentions for the other agents on the task force, Elizabeth is now a fugitive on the FBI's Most Wanted list. To evade capture by the FBI, she seeks asylum at the Russian embassy, identifying herself as "Masha Rostova" and pretending to be a Russian spy.

In "Marvin Gerard", as Liz is being escorted to the airport, the convoy is attacked by Ressler, forcing Liz to run on foot. At a diner, she confronts Red for preventing her asylum until she learns he did this to save her life from being killed by the Cabal. While holding everyone in the diner hostage, Liz attacks a hostage's abusive boyfriend, nearly killing him, until Red stops her. In "Eli Matchett", Liz realizes that even if her name is cleared, she can't go back to the life she once knew and must rely on Red to help her survive as a criminal. In "Arioch Cain", Liz and Red fake her death after a bounty is put on her head.

In "Kings of the Highway", Liz tracks down Reddington after he is kidnapped and ransoms him using a valuable object that Dembe claims is needed to clear her name. While Liz and Dembe are making the exchange for Reddington, the FBI arrives and Ressler arrests Liz.

In "The Director", Liz is locked in the task force's cell as Ressler tries to protect her until she can testify. The Director and Laurel Hitchin attempt to prevent this by transferring Liz to an undisclosed location due to her supposedly having terrorist connections and then suffocating her when Aram changes the box's door code. Liz is nearly transferred, but the White House Counsel prevents it and Ressler returns to transfer her to the courthouse. In "The Director: Conclusion", Liz spends the night in a cell protected by Ressler that keeps the Cabal from reaching her, but Laurel plots to have her assassinated as she's moved. Liz is later taken before a judge, where she faces multiple charges that each come with a death sentence, including sixteen counts of murder. Laurel tries to have Liz assassinated but is forced to call off her attempt by Red, who captures the Director and threatens to turn him over to the World Court. With the help of Marvin Gerard, Red makes a deal with Laurel for her to publicly exonerate Liz on all but Tom Connolly's murder. In that case, Liz has to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter and will get three years' probation. Though she would be free, Liz could never return to the FBI. Liz reluctantly takes the deal in the end since Red ensures she'll remain part of the task force as an asset like him. Laurel publicly exonerates her while Karakurt is taken into custody and exposed as the man who had committed the terrorist acts Liz had been framed for. That night, Liz emerges from the courthouse a free woman and hugs Red, who is waiting for her.

Liz has difficulty adjusting to no longer being an FBI agent. After being beaten up by a man who thought she was a traitor, she is hospitalized and discovers she is pregnant. She accepts Tom's marriage proposal, hoping to start a family with him.

Liz and Tom's wedding ceremony is interrupted by Mr. Solomon, who pursues them relentlessly. Liz is injured during the chase, forcing Reddington's doctor to perform an emergency C-section to save her baby. Liz dies due to complications with the C-section and the inability to reach a hospital on time: Matias Solomon blocks the vehicle containing Liz from continuing to the hospital, and Liz dies with Reddington holding her hand. Red is shown to be completely devastated by her death, as is the rest of the task force, and Tom is left to raise their daughter, Agnes, alone. In "Cape May", Red tells of a time he had to make a Hobson's choice: to save a child and lose her mother or lose both, saying it was the hardest choice he made by far in his life. While it initially seems he is referring to Liz's recent death, a later conversation reveals that the allusion was toward saving Liz (née Masha) as a child and losing her mother, Katarina.

In "Alexander Kirk: Conclusion", Liz is revealed to be alive. The shootout at the wedding led her, Reddington's doctor, Tom, and Kaplan to fake her death so she and Tom could flee and protect Agnes. Liz secretly escapes to Cuba and is reunited with Tom days later but is captured by Alexander Kirk's men. Tied to a chair, Liz meets with Kirk, who reveals he is in fact her father, Constantin Rostov.

In "Esteban", Liz doesn't believe Kirk and demands to know what he's planning to do with her, Tom, and Agnes. Kirk claims that her daughter will be fine and that he just needs to get rid of the rat. Kirk plans to take her back to the house she grew up in so she can see the truth for herself. In "Mato", Liz gets a clue from her past when she sees her mother, Katarina, putting a few toys and a ribbon bracelet in a coffee can to be used as a time capsule. Liz digs the can up and discovers some truth in Kirk's words. When she is rescued by the FBI, Liz is reunited with Tom. In "Miles McGrath", Liz reads through her mother's journal and comes up with an important clue involving rare cancer plaguing the males of the Rostov family. It is only then that Red reveals the truth in Kirk's plans to use Liz for a blood transfusion since her blood contains vital blood cells needed to help him replenish his own, and without her, he will keep Agnes hostage.

In "The Lindquist Concerns", Liz discovers a DNA test done by Kirk that claims her to be his daughter and briefly mistrusts Red for it. In "The Thrushes", Liz helps Red talk Kirk out of committing suicide by begging him to give Agnes back to her. He does give her back to Liz, which leads to his arrest.

In "Dr. Adrian Shaw", Kirk is taken to the hospital, and Lis, believing she may be his only chance of rescuing him, takes a DNA test. If she is found to be a match, they will prepare her for surgery and do a blood transfusion. When Tom finds out, he confronts Liz about the decision and admits that he had met his mother, Susan, months earlier. Despite his warning not to get close to Kirk, Liz mentions that she needs to help him since he may provide the answers to who she is. While being prepped for surgery, a doctor tells her that the DNA test results between her and Kirk came back and they're not a match. Believing Red has sent false transcripts of the DNA test, she calls him to confront him, only to discover that Kirk had lied to her the whole time and the DNA transcript that Tom had given her was falsified. Angered by this, Liz confronts Kirk for lying to her and abandons him. In "Dr. Adrian Shaw: Conclusion", while Red is being held captive and threatened by Kirk, Red tells Kirk that he is Elizabeth Keen's father ("What do you want me to say? Yes. Yes, Elizabeth is my daughter.").

In "Lipet's Seafood Company", Red calls a favor on newly elected president Robert Diaz. Liz is granted a full presidential pardon for Connolly's death, allowing her reinstatement as an FBI agent.

In "Dr. Bogdan Krilov", Liz and Samar are sent to confront Dr. Krilov and discover Kaplan's plan to use Ressler to kill Hitchin since she is Red's only link to the Cabal under pretenses. Liz discovers the truth about Kaplan being her former nanny whom she used to call Katya, and she begs Liz to end her relationship with Red before it's too late. Despite stopping Ressler from making a big mistake, Liz confronts Hitchin and tells her they will investigate Reven Wright's disappearance. Inside the ice rink, Liz finally meets with Julian Gale, who demands the FBI transcripts of their involvement with Red. She refuses to cooperate and suspects he has an ulterior motive in wanting the transcripts so he can capture Red.

In "The Debt Collector", Liz is kidnapped by Edgar Grant, who was presumably hired by a man she had arrested previously who forced Red to cooperate with Kaplan. When he takes her to the cabin to meet with his client, Liz and Grant are taken by surprise when Red shows up. Despite Liz's attempts to help Red reconcile with Kaplan, a gunshot is fired by an unknown assailant. Liz later calls Red and informs him of her suspicion of Gale being his assailant.

In "Mr. Kaplan Conclusion", Liz is informed by Harold that he had done a DNA test between her and Red and she'll know within 24 hours if he is her father. She later tries to appeal to Kaplan to end the war with Red, and she wants to show her a secret. On their way there, Red's men block the attempt, and despite Kaplan's warning not to leave the car, Liz does. After opening an envelope containing the DNA test and believing it to be Kaplan's secret, Liz confronts Red for not telling her the truth about him being her father and having to find out from Cooper. She tells him that she was upset that she had already lost her mother, her nanny, and Sam, the people who knew her the best. Despite this, Liz mentions that she can't let Red deny the fact that she's just like him and that anger, despair and love is part of a normal family. Liz also realizes that Red wanted her to grow more as an FBI profiler and embraces him.

In "Zarak Mosadek", while staking out a pub in Baltimore with Aram, Liz discovers a woman named Lillian who works as a bartender meeting with Garvey. Later on, after taking her to the apartment where she lives, Liz is surprised when she learns Lillian was put in the Witness Protection Program by Garvey because of Red's past abuse of her and her mother, Naomi. She mentions that she is also Red's daughter and they're half sisters.

In "Sutton Ross", Liz visits Tom's gravesite, and she tells Tom's ghost that she now knows that her father, Raymond Reddington, is dead and that the man is an imposter. Tom warns Liz to be careful due to how resourceful the imposter is.

In "Rassvet", Liz tracks down her grandfather Dominic Wilkinson with the help of Ressler and finally learns much of the truth about Reddington and her mother from him. Liz learns that the man she shot as a child, as remembered in "Tom Connolly", was, in fact, the real Reddington and she killed him. Dom tells Liz about her mother and her history with Ilya Koslov, the man who became Reddington to protect Katarina. Dom states that twenty-eight years before, her mother had promised to send him a letter to a post office box when she was safe, but he has never gotten one despite checking every week. Liz later flies to Hong Kong and reveals to Reddington that she knows the truth about who he really is, but he refuses to answer her questions about why he continued being Reddington after gaining access to all of his money.

In "Elizabeth Keen", she becomes #1 on the blacklist and plots against Reddington. Reddington tells Dembe that he only wants Liz found, not necessarily caught. Dembe suggests that Red's killing Katarina in front of Liz was part of his plan to groom Liz to take over his empire, but Red admits that he never had a plan going in. In the end, Liz manages to rob Red of 35 million euros ($41,000,000). While Aram and Ressler attempt to resign so that someone else can go after Liz due to their conflicting feelings on the matter, Cooper admits that he would also have to resign in that case, and the three men decide to continue the hunt for Liz themselves rather than send total strangers after her.

In "Konets", Liz gets an offer from Reddington, who gives her a letter containing all the answers about his identity she was seeking, but first, she had to kill him and take his empire over. Liz could have killed Red and put an end to his mystery, but only then does she understand how much she needs him in her life. However, she accepts the offer because she still wants to know who Reddington is. When she finally faces Reddington, Vandyke shoots her and she is left bleeding on the street before Ressler arrives.

In Season 9, Red investigates Liz's murder, trying to discover who was truly responsible despite numerous obstacles being put in his way. In "Caelum Bank," Red finally discovers that it was Marvin Gerard. After a confrontation with Red, Gerard commits suicide the night before the third anniversary of Liz's death. The next morning, Cooper, Aram, Dembe, Park, and Ressler all gather at Liz's grave to remember their friend and share their happy memories of Liz's life.

Donald Ressler

Donald Ressler is portrayed by Diego Klattenhoff, since 2013 The Blacklist - Diego Klattenhoff (cropped).jpg
Donald Ressler is portrayed by Diego Klattenhoff, since 2013

Portrayed by Diego Klattenhoff

Donald Ressler is a senior FBI agent who is a stickler for procedure. His father was an honest policeman who was betrayed and killed by his corrupt partner after refusing to take bribes. He spent five years on an FBI task force obsessively pursuing Reddington, which resulted in his fiancée's breaking off their engagement. He despises having to work with a criminal like Reddington, but he acknowledges that Reddington does get results. Initially, he distrusts Liz Keen and her connection to Reddington but eventually comes to respect and work well with her. After he was shot by Anslo Garrick, he reignited his relationship with his former fiancée, Audrey Bidwell. However, in "Mako Tanida" she was killed by Mako Tanida, forcing Ressler to side with Red to find him. After capturing him, Ressler and his friend, Bobby Jonica takes him to his father's secret cabin. On the drive there, Ressler is betrayed when Tanida informs him that he wasn't responsible for the deaths of both the FBI agents and Audrey's. He also learns that Jonica assumed Akio's (Tanida's deceased brother) identity to take over his business, leading the latter to shoot Tanida for exposing him and Ressler slamming the brakes to stop him. After capturing Jonica, Ressler blamed him for his betrayal that led to the deaths of their closest friends and Audrey. He also admits that while he doesn't like working with Red, he was the reason why Ressler had Audrey back in his life, and because of Jonica, she's dead. Ressler gave him a choice to kill himself with a knife or Jonica will be shot. Liz convinces Ressler to stand down as Jonica kills himself with the knife. Back at his apartment, Ressler is heartbroken when he discovers a pregnancy test and learns that Audrey was pregnant with his child. He later developed an addiction to pain medication from what he went through with Audrey's death and later Meera's own. He managed to overcome it when Liz convinces Ressler to seek help.

In "Tom Connolly", with Cooper removed from being the FBI Director of Counterterrorism and finally being aware of the Cabal, Wright names Ressler as acting director. When Liz goes on the run after killing Tom Connolly, Ressler urges her to come in, saying that otherwise, he will have to lead the FBI manhunt against her.

In "The Troll Farmer", Ressler interrogates Cooper for his involvement in letting Liz escape and learns a few of the Cabal's plans for the FBI itself. He eventually decides to release Cooper but warns that they will keep an eye on him. In "Marvin Gerard", Red informs Ressler that the Cabal had set a trap up for Liz at the airport and he rushes in to prevent the departure. Though he succeeds, Liz is shaken up by his reckless actions, believing he wanted to capture her, and flees the scene before Ressler could explain himself. He is later visited by Tom Keen, who wishes to assist him, knowing trouble is on the horizon for both Red and Liz. In "Eli Matchett", Ressler refuses his help and warns him to stay out of his way.

After arresting Liz, Ressler joins Red's efforts to protect her from the Cabal, aiding in protecting Karakurt in "the Director". He later tells Liz that he believes she was framed and he would not have arrested her if he believed he couldn't protect her. Ressler can protect Liz until Red forces the Cabal to exonerate her. He then returns control of the task force to the reinstated Cooper.

In the season 4 episode "Philomena", Ressler's old friend Julian Gale invites Ressler to join his investigation into the eighty-six bodies exhumed by Mr. Kaplan. Cooper suggests Ressler do so to help the task force stay ahead of Gale's investigation.

In "Dr. Bogdan Krilov", Ressler follows an anonymous tip on Reven Wright's disappearance that leads to a woman living with her sister who has claimed she saw Hitchin order some men carrying a rolled carpet. When he delved further, the woman admitted she saw a foot come out of the carpet, leading Reesler to suspect that Hitchin murdered Wright. Before he could take the woman into protective custody, Ressler and she are attacked by men presumably working for Hitchin. However, Liz and Samar suspect he was being manipulated by Kaplan after Krilov confesses. They stop Ressler just in time from killing Hitchin and Liz revealing he was under the influence of propofol and manipulated to kill Hitchin by Kaplan and Krilov. Despite standing down, Ressler is later taken into custody with his FBI badge revoked.

In "The Debt Collector", when he is accused by Gale of wanting to help Red, Ressler reprimands him for being selfish. He points out to Gale that he was on another assignment by looking into Wright's murder and had no time to deal with Red's shenanigans. Ressler lost his badge upon being under the influence of propofol and nearly killed Hitchin had Liz and Samar not stopped him. The last thing he needed is Gale causing him more problems with his life. He later apologizes to Ressler upon learning what happened to him.

In "Mr. Kaplan", Ressler informs Cooper, Liz, and Samar that Gale has gotten enough intel to demand an indictment on the Task Force involving Red, from the grand jury.

In "Mr. Kaplan, Conclusion", Red helps Ressler locate Hitchin's cleaner Henry Prescott who leads him to the murdered Reven Wright. However, Reddington uses the body to force Hitchin into dropping the investigation even though it means that Wright will not get justice as Ressler wanted. Hitchin subsequently returns Ressler's badge, but they get into an altercation, causing Ressler to accidentally kill her. He later calls Prescott to help similarly hide Hitchin's body to Wright's, under the pseudonym Red gave Ressler, Frank Sturgeon.

In "Smokey Putnum", Ressler is informed by Cooper that Hitchin died by hitting her head and there will be no further investigation. He seems relieved by this until Prescott visits him in his van. He informs Ressler that he knows the truth and blackmails him for favors if he wants Prescott to keep his secret involving his accidental murdering of Hitchin.

In "Miss Rebecca Thrall", Ressler is contacted by Prescott for a favor involving a package inside of a car to be delivered to him. He is reminded of their deal in what could happen if he refuses. After delivering the car to Prescott, Ressler warns him to never call him again.

In "The Informant", while pursuing a criminal, Ressler is contacted by Prescott to stop pursuing his clients. While searching Judge Sonia Fisher's apartment, Ressler asks Samar to search the bedroom. After she leaves, he comes across a tablet and uses the password on it. It's there, Ressler discovers the names of Prescott's clients, including his own name on the list. He gets a call from Red, telling him it is time they had a chat. With Red's help, Ressler discovered Prescott's real name and meets him in the park where he's playing football with his family and arrests him. Afterward, he gives Cooper a letter of resignation and includes his confession for all the things he's done. Cooper rejects the letter, stating that his name wasn't found on Prescott's client list. Prescott is later killed by Reddington who removed Ressler from the list.

In "Brothers", it's revealed that as a teenager Ressler shot and apparently killed his father's former partner Tommy Markin after overhearing a phone call in which Markin revealed the truth during Ressler's father's funeral. The murder of his father and Ressler's revenge killing inspired him to follow in his father's footsteps and join law enforcement, having previously been a troubled teen going down a bad path while his brother Robby was heading to the police academy. Robby covered up his actions and hid the body while in the present day, Robby seeks Ressler's help after the field he buried Markin in is being dug up for development purposes. Ressler and Robby try to move the body, only for it to be stolen by the Albanian mob to whom Robby owes money. The mob use Markin's body to blackmail Ressler into stealing a file for them. Robby eventually reveals that Markin was still alive after Ressler shot him before Robby finished Markin off. The brothers decide to come clean to Liz even though it means they will go to prison. With Liz's help, Ressler takes down the mobsters after his brother and they reconcile but are not arrested as Liz manages to make the body disappear. Liz later explains to Ressler that he is the one thing she can count on in her chaotic life and can't afford to lose him.

Aram Mojtabai

Portrayed by Amir Arison

Aram Mojtabai is a quirky and skilled technician who regularly assists the FBI. He formerly worked for the NSA. He is friends with Elizabeth Keen. It is shown that Aram likes Samar Navabi until they suffered a falling out in "Gaia".

In "The Djinn", Red appeals to Aram for help in locating Nasim Bakhash as part of his plans to exonerate Keen. In "Kings of the Highway", Aram reveals his knowledge of what he has learned from the laptop in exchange for Ressler telling him of the protocols. It's also there he begins to feel guilty for having to tell Ressler about Samar's plans to help Liz and Red. As she leaves, Aram realizes the extent of what could happen to Keen if the Cabal gets their hands on her and has to decide where his loyalties lie.

When Liz is arrested and the Director comes to take her into custody, Aram changes the password to her cell to lock him out. The Director cuts off Liz's air to force Aram to give up the password. Aram then confronts the Director at gunpoint in a desperate attempt to stop him from taking Liz. She persuades Aram to stand down, but in the process, he buys enough time for Cynthia Panabaker, the White House counsel, to arrive and transfer Liz to a federal courthouse under Ressler's direct supervision. Aram later joins Red's team to kidnap the Director and exonerate Liz by using his computer skills to hack an elevator's controls to make it go to the wrong floor. The mission is a success and Liz is exonerated of all but the murder of Tom Connolly, for which she agrees to a plea of involuntary manslaughter and is set free.

In "Miles McGrath", it's revealed that Aram has been seeing someone else, a woman named Janet Sutherland, and his relationship with Samar suffers a falling out when he finds out about her plans for a transfer. At the end of "Gaia", Aram coldly tells Samar that he's glad she's leaving the team when he found out that she blamed him for an action Cooper did on his behalf as it was against his morals to kill again. He also mentions the only congratulated her out of respect for both Ressler and Cooper. Aram tells Samar that he's very angry at her because he wished she had told him about her plans to transfer and slams the door in her face.

However, in "The Thrushes", it's revealed that Aram's girlfriend, Janet, is an undercover operative hired by Alexander Kirk to gain access to the FBI's computer networks through Aram. She was suspected by Samar and Ressler the whole time and they present their evidence to him, finding that he has already figured out she is a mole. When Aram discovers this, he regrets how he treated Samar after learning she did love him. Using himself as bait, he can keep Janet occupied long enough for Ressler to arrest her. At the end of the episode, Aram is comforted by Samar and realizes his feelings for her. He is happy when she admits she rescinded her transfer papers and decided to stay.

In "The Architect", Aram is sent undercover to bring down a blacklister known as The Architect. Aram is forced to aid in the prison break of a man about to be executed and witnesses the Architect's brutality in securing the man's freedom. Aram is rescued by Samar and Ressler, but the Architect escapes. Recognizing that more people will die if the Architect escapes and shaken by what he has witnessed, Aram kills the Architect with his own portable coilgun without hesitation. When he is shaken again by his actions, Samar comforted Aram and convinces him that he did the right thing in killing the Architect.

In "Dembe Zuma", Dembe kidnaps Aram to get him to help find the traitor in Red's syndicate. After helping Dembe find a name as a clue, he returns to the Post Office to catch Janet and Samar in a confrontation. Though he can defuse the situation by escorting Janet away from Samar, Aram becomes worried for her when she leaves work without talking to him.

In "Mr. Kaplan", Aram is about to go speed walking with Janet until he is ordered by a man to appear before an inquiry involving the Task Force. Despite defending the Task Force and Red, he is imprisoned in the same cell that Liz was held in.

In "Mr. Kaplan, Conclusion", Aram learns about Janet testifying against him to protect her deal and why Samar never told him about it out of a need to protect him. He realizes that she wasn't right for him and ends their relationship for good. Coming back to the Task Force, Aram realizes Samar's feelings for him and shares a kiss with her.

Tom Keen

Tom Keen was portrayed by Ryan Eggold since 2013. Ryan Eggold.jpg
Tom Keen was portrayed by Ryan Eggold since 2013.

Portrayed by Ryan Eggold

Thomas Vincent Keen, born Christopher Hargrave (Blacklister No. 7), is Elizabeth's husband, an elementary school teacher who turns out to be a covert operative working for Berlin. When first confronted by Elizabeth, Tom asserts to her that he was assigned to protect her and that Reddington "is not who [she] thinks he is". Elizabeth shoots him and stages his death but keeps him prisoner on a boat for several months to extract as much information as possible. When she is nearly discovered by the harbormaster, Tom saves her by strangling him to death; as a token of gratitude, she lets Tom escape. Tom later meets with Reddington, and their conversation reveals a previous working relationship. Apparently, Tom was recruited at the age of 14 (he was then known as Jacob Phelps) by a blacklister known as the Major (Lance Henriksen) due to the combination of sociopathy and extreme talent and spent the better part of the next 20 years as a deep-cover operative for various criminal enterprises. Reddington acquired him from the Major to insert him into Elizabeth's life, but when Berlin found out, he doubled Reddington's price. After his escape, Tom uses the Major for a new covert operation as a neo-Nazi drug and arms dealer in Dresden named Christof Mannheim, but not before calling Elizabeth; he appears to have developed genuine feelings for her during their "marriage", which seems to complicate matters for both the Major and Reddington since it was the reason behind his killing the harbormaster on Elizabeth's boat. When Elizabeth nearly gets subpoenaed for the harbormaster's murder, Reddington and Ressler attempt to extradite Tom from Germany so he can clear her name; Tom initially refuses but then appears in court and willfully surrenders. With the assistance of Assistant Attorney General "Smiling Tommy" Connolly, Reddington helps Tom and Elizabeth sweep the whole event under the rug; Elizabeth is cleared while Tom "never existed". The Major, seeing Tom as a liability after this affair, tries to shoot Tom, but the Germans intercept them; Tom bargains for their lives, and they both manage to escape, but the Major is still set to have Tom killed. Desperate, Tom hides at Elizabeth's place and pleads with her to give him his passports; in exchange, she convinces him to tell her the truth about his relationship with Reddington before revealing that she had always known that on some level, Tom's love for her and their life together was genuine. He later tells Liz of his dream to become a fisherman and urges her to come with him to Japan to start a new life with each other, but she declines, telling him that she needs to finish what she's started. After Liz kills Tom Connolly and becomes one of the FBI's most wanted, Tom departs on his boat to Japan to begin his new life.

In "Marvin Gerard", Tom appears before Ressler, wishing to assist him in saving Liz, suspecting the tides are against Red's favor. In "Eli Matchett", he and Ressler get into a brief scuffle with each other. While waiting for Liz to call him, Tom meets with Cooper and is recruited to help investigate Karakurt. Posing as a hustler, he befriends a wealthy socialite and infiltrates an underground street-fighting ring, where he eventually locates Karakurt. He brings the assassin to Cooper, but the Cabal finds them, forcing all three men to go on the run. Eventually, with Ressler and Cooper's help, he evades the Cabal and delivers Karakurt into federal custody. After Liz is released, Tom proposes marriage to her, but she turns him down, saying that she is too uncertain about the future to accept. Tom is later confronted by Red, who warns him to stay away from Liz, after the actions he pulled when he ignored his first warning led to this. After Liz's death, he tells Red to stay away from Agnes and blames him for his failure to protect her.

In "The Artax Network", Samar visits Tom in the hospital, who has been having a hard time raising Agnes alone, and offers to help him. Tom is later recruited again by Cooper to keep an eye on Cynthia Panabaker, and he discovers more that confirms Cooper's suspicion. Visiting Cooper at the post office, he can confirm the woman that Panabaker had a meeting with looks like Liz's mother, Katarina.

In "Alexander Kirk", Tom is forced to work with Matias Solomon and Susan Hargrave, the people responsible for Liz's death, to get at Alexander Kirk, the man who ordered the attack. During the mission, Tom shoots Solomon in revenge, but Solomon seemingly gets away after Tom leaves. Tom later goes after Susan before Red calls him to stop Tom. Red reveals that Tom is in fact Christopher Hargrave, Susan's long-missing son. Moments later, Susan enters and tells him about her son, how he disappeared twenty-eight years earlier when he was three years old, and how she always hopes to see him again. On Red's advice, Tom doesn't let Susan know he's her son but doesn't kill her for Agnes' sake.

In "Alexander Kirk: Conclusion", Tom gives Red's detail the slip and heads for Cuba. It emerges that he was in on Liz's plan to fake her death in order to give herself and Agnes a normal life. Unfortunately, Kirk pinged Tom's phone at the hospital, allowing his men to track the Keens to Cuba and kidnap Liz.

In "The Lindquist Concern" Tom suspects Kirk is manipulating Liz and seeks out Ressler's help for previous files from the FBI. Though still unable to trust him, Ressler agrees to help Tom out by giving him previous FBI files. Tom's spying on one of Kirk's men and confrontation leads him to where Kirk's true whereabouts are: Russia. He calls Liz to warn Red about Kirk's plans to kill him.

In "The Architect", Tom searches for the truth about his true parentage and why he disappeared years ago, after reading about the death of his father, Howard Hargrave. His search leads to a mother whose son made Tom disappear and procures a confession from him.

In "Whitehall/Whitehall Conclusion (The Blacklist: Redemption)", Tom discovers his father, Howard, is alive and being held in a mental hospital. He also learns that Susan had faked Howard's death and had an ulterior motive for Halycon. This leads to Tom convincing Nez to side with him as they try to uncover the truth of the secret Susan had been hiding the whole time concerning Whitehall. Solomon tries to stop Tom and Nez, claiming that Susan was set up by Howard and had no knowledge of it.

In "Mr. Kaplan, Conclusion", it's revealed that Tom found the suitcase Kaplan left in the storage locker and looks inside it. He discovers the skeletal remains of an undisclosed person and closes the suitcase. Tom then takes it with him under Kaplan's orders to deliver the suitcase.

In "Ian Garvey", Tom finally finds out who the skeletal remains belong to and the connection she has with Elizabeth. Now realizing the truth, he calls Liz to come home and plans to tell her the truth about her mother along with the fact that Red killed Kopal. However, Ian Garvey interferes with his group and attacks the two. Having taken back the bag containing the skeletal remains, he leaves and has a few of his men get rid of Tom and Liz to send a message to Red. Despite Tom's best efforts to fight them off, he is stabbed as Liz loses consciousness. Tom's final words are that Liz will be the one to make it, and he dies in the hospital.

Meera Malik

Meera Malik is portrayed by Parminder Nagra Parminder Nagra by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg
Meera Malik is portrayed by Parminder Nagra

Portrayed by Parminder Nagra

Meera Malik is a CIA field agent assigned to Reddington's security detail at the personal request of Diane Fowler. Not much has been revealed about her character other than that she is a CIA agent tasked with Reddington's file, and that she is the mother of two children. She was revealed to have unknowingly leaked information to the terrorist Anslo Garrick upon the orders of an unknown individual. Reddington discovers this and forces her to help him unmask the person responsible. She ends up betraying the task force. In season 1's finale, "Berlin: Conclusion," she is killed in a nightclub by an escaped convict who slits her throat.

In Season 10, Meera's daughter is revealed to be an MI6 agent who ends up joining the task force which she knew about due to her mother's role on it.

Harold Cooper

Portrayed by Harry Lennix

Harold Cooper is the Assistant Director of the FBI Counterterrorism Division and head of the covert FBI task force assigned to pursue the criminals on the Blacklist. He is on an upwardly mobile career path in the Bureau, something that his work with Reddington occasionally threatens to derail. He had a particular interest in Reddington's past and is willing to oblige Reddington's unusual requests due to this understanding of him. He was attacked and put into a coma by Berlin's agents at the end of season 1.

Harold Cooper is portrayed by Harry Lennix, since 2013 Harry Lennix by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Harold Cooper is portrayed by Harry Lennix, since 2013

By Season 2, Cooper regained consciousness, but is revealed to have an inoperable brain tumor in the episode "T. Earl King VI". With the help of his friend, Attorney General Connolly, he entered an experimental drug trial. However, he has had to compromise his ethics and perform various morally dubious tasks for Connolly to stay in his favor and remain in the trial. He confronts Connolly, who admits that he has been manipulating him on behalf of the Cabal. He blackmails Cooper into helping them, saying that they will destroy Cooper and his wife Charlene if he fails to cooperate. Cooper tells Reddington about the situation, and the two attempt to use Cooper's connection to Connolly against the Cabal. When Liz is framed for the assassination of Senator Hawkins, Cooper flatly refuses to cooperate with the Cabal and is placed on administrative leave by Connolly. After Liz finds evidence that Cooper's doctor is working for the Cabal, Cooper confronts the man and discovers that the Cabal faked his cancer and that he is not dying. After he witnesses Liz's murder of Connolly, he tells her to run, and later turns over his badge. Ressler interrogates him to determine his complicity in Connolly's murder but eventually decides to release him.

In "Marvin Gerard", Cooper is told by Wright that for him to have the charges dropped against him, Cooper not only has to resign but also take a desk job. Although he reluctantly does, Cooper is determined to help Liz clear her name and investigates Karakurt. In "Eli Matchett", Cooper meets with Tom in a Chinese Restaurant and although he can't be trusted, Cooper thinks he's perfect for the job. He recruits Tom to help investigate Karakurt. Later, Tom brings Karakurt to Cooper's house and they are forced to flee with Charlene when the Cabal sends a team to kill Karakurt. Charlene suggests they hide at their neighbor's cabin, admitting that she had cheated on Cooper with him.

In "The Director Conclusion", after Red forces the Cabal to exonerate Liz, a mission Cooper aids in, Cooper is reinstated as head of the task force and congratulates Ressler for his work in Cooper's absence. Later, he separates from Charlene.

In "Mr. Kaplan: Conclusion", after facing the prospect of the task force being shut down due to Kaplan's war on Reddington, Cooper resolves to settle once and for all the question of Liz and Reddington's relationship. He takes a sample of Reddington's blood from an evidence locker for an old case and has it tested against Liz's DNA.

In "Kuwait", it is revealed that as a young soldier during the Gulf War, Cooper covered up an illicit smuggling operation run by his superiors. His friend, Daniel Hutton, discovered Cooper's involvement and the two argued when Hutton threatened to blow the whistle on the operation. Iraqi soldiers attacked the pair and kidnapped Hutton. Cooper's commander later recommended him for the Navy Cross in exchange for his silence regarding the smuggling. In the present day, Hutton turns up alive and Cooper travels to Iran to rescue him. While attempting to return to the US, Cooper is captured by Hutton's men. Hutton reveals he escaped captivity years ago and became "the Simoom", an infamous terrorist who sold classified information to criminals. He tortures Cooper, but Reddington arrives to rescue him and kill Hutton.

Samar Navabi

Portrayed by Mozhan Marnò

Samar Navabi is a Mossad agent from Iran. She is a highly skilled interrogator. She first appears in the season 2 premiere, "Lord Baltimore", in which she briefly captures and interrogates Reddington. Later she joins the Blacklist task force on an indefinite basis. She appears to be colluding with Reddington for an unknown purpose.

In "Zal Bin Hassan", Samar's past is revealed and how she witnessed the death of her parents. Red then scolds her knowing that she almost had her family's killer back in Cairo, but missed one key element that led to both her partner being killed and Samar being hospitalized. She has an emotional reunion with her brother, Shahin, who was believed to have died years earlier in a bombing. However, Samar soon discovers that her brother is not who she believes him to be, and is in fact the very terrorist she had spent years hunting. She helps her former partner Levi destroy important documents, but she is captured by her brother and taken to the harbor, where Reddington intercepts them, freeing Samar and capturing Shahin. Reddington asks Samar to let him take Shahin for his own purposes, and she sadly agrees, saying her brother died long ago. Afterward, Samar and Ressler become intimate.

Samar secretly helps Liz locate Reddington after he is kidnapped. When Ressler finds out and confronts her, she admits to it and to previously tipping Liz and Tom off to help them evade the FBI, arguing that if Liz is arrested, she will inevitably be killed by the Cabal. In response, Ressler promptly fires Samar from the task force. She then joins Reddington and helps him carry out his plan to exonerate Liz. After Liz is released, Samar rejoins the task force.

In "Gaia", she and Aram fought over her plans to transfer, with the latter admitting that he only congratulated her out of respect for both Ressler and Cooper. When he tells her off how he truly felt and leaves, only then Samar begins to feel guilty for hurting Aram.

In "The Lindquist Concerns", Samar is comforted by Ressler and she trusts him enough to tell him of her suspicions on Aram's girlfriend, Janet, being up to no good. In "The Thrushes", she and Ressler confirm their suspicions to Cooper about Janet before confronting him about it. When Samar revealed the knowledge that she and Ressler investigated her being an operative working for Kirk to gain FBI files, Aram regretted how he treated her. After the operative is arrested, Samar comforts Aram and pleases him by admitting she rescinded on her transfer papers. In Dr. Adrian Shaw, Samar and Ressler attempt to find Sonia Bloom, only to learn that Red beat them for it. She confronts him on the phone with the belief he has plans to kill Bloom. Red evades Samar's question, but only mentions he will expose the truth soon.

In "Lipet's Seafood Company", Samar engages in an unsanctioned Mossad operation to steal a microchip without the FBI's knowledge. She deliberately misleads Aram when he begins investigating the incident. After the task force finds out the truth, Cooper upbraids her for deceiving him and tells her to figure out whether her loyalties lie with Mossad or the FBI. She asks Aram out for a drink, but he turns her down, telling her he has had too many bad experiences with women he cannot trust. Later she meets with her ex-partner and sometimes lover Levi, but declines to resume their relationship, confessing to him that she is "in love with someone else".

In "Dembe Zuma" while trying to work together, Samar and Janet had a serious confrontation with the latter admitting that when she met Aram, he was just like Samar before she taught him how to have fun. She tells Samar that she knows about her feelings for Aram and would never admit it out of fear. Janet even points out that she is doing a poor job hiding it behind a disinterest and tough façade. Samar doesn't talk to Aram and leaves, apparently shaken by the fact Janet knew that she had feelings for him. In "Philomena", Samar interviews for a prestigious FBI fellowship. She is accepted but declines upon learning that Aram recommended her for the fellowship, believing he only did so out of guilt for not telling her about resuming his relationship with Janet.

In "Mr. Kaplan: Conclusion", Samar investigates Janet after Aram is imprisoned for failing to cooperate with a grand jury investigating the task force. She discovers Janet's criminal record was expunged in exchange for her persuading Aram to testify against the task force. She visits Aram in jail but chooses not to tell him about Janet's involvement after he says that Janet's support is keeping him sane. Later, Aram learns this and breaks up with Janet. He asks Samar why she kept silent. When she replies it was because Janet made him happy, he kisses her.

In "Lawrence Dane Devlin", Samar drowns after her kidnapping by a Blacklister. Samar calls Aram to say goodbye, telling Aram that if he had proposed, she would have accepted. Aram manages to find Samar in time to save her life; however, she is left on life support. According to Ressler, Samar went a long time without oxygen and all the doctors know for sure is that she cannot currently breathe on her own and may never be able to again. Despite this, Aram refuses to give up on her, playing the comatose Samar music and officially proposing to her before placing his grandmother's ring on her finger.

In "Sutton Ross", Samar awakens from her coma and accepts Aram's proposal.

Samar realizes the near-drowning has left her with permanent brain damage. After attempting to hide it from Aram and the Task Force, she realizes she can no longer continue her duties after she becomes incapacitated while pursuing Bastien Moreau. Rather than tell Cooper the truth, she resigns from the task force. It is revealed that she has vascular dementia and her condition will only deteriorate along with her memory.

In "The Osterman Umbrella Company", Samar overpowers the first assassin sent by the Mossad to exterminate her. She escapes with Aram only to be tracked down by the second group of Israelis, and Aram can call in support and stop the attack. Aram decides to stick with Samar and secures new passports from the task force, but she flees the country with the help of Red, leaving a devastated Aram behind to protect Reddington.

Dembe Zuma

Portrayed by Hisham Tawfiq

Dembe Zuma (Blacklister No. 10), Reddington's trusted and loyal bodyguard, driver, body man and confidant, is introduced as a Muslim former freedom fighter from South Sudan. It was assumed that he was Raymond Reddington's bodyguard. The episode "The Mombasa Cartel" revealed that he was born the youngest son of a farmer named Samwel Zuma. When he reported several low-ranking operatives of a poaching organization, the Mombasa Cartel, to the authorities, the cartel killed Dembe's father, mother, and siblings and sold him to human traffickers. At some point, he was being held by the Eberhardt Cartel. He spent eight years in the world of human trafficking and was enslaved until the age of 14 when Reddington found him half-dead and chained to a pipe in the basement of a brothel in Nairobi. Reddington took care of him, nursed him back to health, and made sure he got an education. Dembe eventually got a bachelor's degree in English Literature, learned to speak four languages fluently, and learned six others well enough to get by. Dembe rarely speaks and does not converse without being close to Reddington.

In "The Troll Farmer", it is revealed that Dembe has a daughter and a granddaughter whom Matias Solomon uses as leverage to force him to surrender to him. In "Eli Matchett" Dembe is further tortured by Solomon's associates for refusing to disclose Red's whereabouts. He later finds Mr. Vargas in the same situation, and the two team up to escape. However, Vargas betrays Dembe and shoots him. Dembe rescues Red and Liz from Solomon before collapsing from his injuries.

After Reddington shoots Mr. Kaplan and leaves her for dead in "Mato", Dembe's relationship with Reddington becomes increasingly strained. Eventually, he says to Liz that he no longer recognizes Reddington, and tells her he killed Mr. Kaplan. In "The Apothecary", Dembe disappears after apparently poisoning Reddington. It is later revealed that he was innocent but fled to find the true culprit. With Aram's help, he discovers that Mr. Kaplan was alive and was responsible.

In season 9, Dembe has become an FBI agent. His ways with Reddington have been split up, their friendship was over. In "The Skinner", he was hurt by an explosion and left in the hospital. He was visited by the Task Force, after which they decided to track the Skinner down and reunite with Red. In "The Skinner: Conclusion", he recovered and joined them as a fifth member.

The relationship between Dembe and Red are shown to decline throughout the season. In "The SPK", he arrested Robert Vesco, taking the opportunity to get Red's stolen 50 million dollars; on "Benjamin T. Okara", Reddington failed a meeting with Jovan Lović because of Dembe's membrane as an agent; In "Dr. Roberta Sand, PhD", it is revealed that Dembe betrayed Red and gave the letter about his identity to Liz, in direct contradiction to his instructions.

In "Boukman Baptiste", Dembe is asked to leave the group as Red wouldn’t be able to work with him anymore after what he had done, and what role in Liz’s death he had played. After Cooper rejects to complete his willing, it is revealed that Dembe managed to successfully run Red’s ruining empire for two years after he had vanished. Forced to put all his cards on a table, Dembe saves his job and continues the search of the man who sent VanDyke to kill Elizabeth.

In the series finale, Dembe is arrested for tipping Red off, but he refuses to escape with his old friend. While trying to defuse a tense situation, Dembe is shot in the neck by Congressman Arthur Hudson who is then immediately killed by Red. Thanks to Red getting Dembe treatment and donating his own blood, Dembe survives his wounds. However, while the Attorney General decides not to file charges against Dembe, he fires him from the FBI. Dembe tells Cooper that he had already decided to get out of a life where he is always in front of or behind guns and sadly reflects on the end of the Task Force, death and the adventure that they had all shared because of Red being in their lives.

Alina Park

Portrayed by Laura Sohn

A Special Agent with the FBI whom Liz interviews for a place on the Task Force. Reddington finds Alina bureaucratic and by-the-book, preferring Frankie instead. Alina has a secret from her time at the FBI office in Anchorage, which she refuses to reveal to Liz. Reddington deliberately sets out to disgust Alina, causing her to turn down the job. When Frankie takes Reddington, hostage, Alina pursues her and nearly stabs her to death. Seeing Alina's brutality, Reddington changes his mind and agrees to give her the position. Alina accepts, on the condition that she tells Liz what happened in Anchorage. It is later revealed Alina fell into disgrace in the Anchorage FBI after flouting the law to catch her mother's ex-boyfriend, whom she blamed for her mother's fatal overdose. Upon encountering this ex-boyfriend on her return to Anchorage, Alina chooses not to kill him and allows the police to arrest him instead.

During Season 8, Park hasn’t played any significant role for the series. She was more on Reddington’s side in the showdown between Red and Liz, because, as a newbie agent, she classified Liz just as a next criminal on the list who needs to be caught. In "Rakitin", she completes Reddington’s debt by murdering Rakitin using a high-class poison.

In the two years between the seasons, as of "The Conglomerate", Park had been working as an assassin with her probable love interest, but she gave up killing people six months before the events of season 9, after falling in love with one of her victims and leaving the business afterwards.

In "The Skinner", it is revealed that Park works in an FBI training school. She is married to Peter, who is not keen on her getting in danger and working as a field agent. But, as Dembe needs help in capturing a criminal, she is on her way despite Peter’s unwillingness. She secretly joins the reunited Task Force, but she couldn't keep her secret for too long, as Peter discovers that she had broken her trust in "The Skinner: Conclusion".

In "The Avenging Angel", while passing the drug test to return to the job, Ressler asks Park for help by giving her correct biomaterial to him, as his first own test contained the prohibited oxycodone, making it impossible to show the needed results. When Ressler passes the test, his analysis shows the wrong hormone level, leaving a possibility for Park to be having cancer. In "Benjamin T. Okara", while being under the attack of a powerful energetic weapon, Park got her tumor shredded, but after a short test conducted by Peter, it became obvious that Park had been pregnant all that time and now lost her embryo as a side effect. This puts her relationship with Peter at risk.

In "Laszlo Jancowics", Park comes to Aram for help. When he is filling in the annual report, she asks him not to mention her permanent headaches as she is afraid of losing her job and going off the field. Aram faithfully agrees to do so, but, when Alina stuns and loses the suspect in the recent crossfire due to her headache, she admits them happening and Aram posts it into the report, after which her position is strongly affected. In "Caelum Bank", she is removed from the field as the result of her constant headaches. Anticipating demotion by the FBI and the Task Force, she turns to Red seeking a way to be engaged with the investigations, but, after he refuses to help, she returns to the Task Force and accepts her new role in the team. Ironically, her visit with Red unintentionally helps him figure out the identity of Liz's killer, and Park herself figures out their identity shortly after. After discovering that she's pregnant and solving Liz's murder, Park decides to leave the task force.

Susan Hargrave

Susan Hargrave portrayed by Famke Janssen Famke Janssen WonderCon 2013.jpg
Susan Hargrave portrayed by Famke Janssen

Portrayed by Famke Janssen

Susan "Scottie" Hargrave (Blacklister No. 18) is the co-head of Halcyon Aegis, a secretive military intelligence firm. She has an estranged husband, Howard, who is an old friend of Reddington. She is also Tom Keen's mother though to her he's been missing for twenty-eight years and she doesn't know what happened to him.

Tom Keen photographed her meeting with Cynthia Panabaker. After learning she was involved with Elizabeth Keen's death, Reddington attacks Hargrave's operations to force her to meet with him. She agrees, setting a trap for him. Reddington is alerted to the trap by Tom, and turns the tables, capturing Hargrave instead. She denies any responsibility for Liz's death but reveals that she was contracted to capture Liz by a man named Alexander Kirk. Reddington then proposes a temporary alliance with her.

Hargrave, Solomon, and Nez Rowan team up with Reddington, Tom, and the task force to steal $300 million from Senator Diaz, a presidential candidate who is being bankrolled by Kirk, in an attempt to draw Kirk out. Impressed by Tom's skills, she offers to hire him as an employee of Halcyon.

In "Ruin", Hargrave returns to visit a newly widowed Liz, having been exonerated for the crimes her husband framed her for through Tom's testimony. She takes temporary custody of Agnes while Liz deals with her anger and grief.

Nez Rowan

Portrayed by Tawny Cypress

A mercenary who works for Susan Hargrave. Nez has struggled with addiction before and during the series she relapses.

Matias Solomon

Matias Solomon is portrayed by Edi Gathegi, since 2015 Edi Gathegi.jpg
Matias Solomon is portrayed by Edi Gathegi, since 2015

Portrayed by Edi Gathegi

Matias Solomon (Blacklister No. 32) is a high-ranking Cabal operative. He was formerly a CIA asset in Ethiopia, working with Laurel Hitchin, but the agency ended its relationship with him when he proved to be too brutal even for them. He is soft-spoken and courteous but highly sadistic, with a predilection for torturing his victims. He also tends to leave his men to die while he escapes.

In "The Troll Farmer", he takes Dembe's granddaughter hostage and uses her to capture Dembe. He visits Peter Kotsiopulos' office as a representative of the Cabal, reprimanding the Director for his inability to prevent Reddington from releasing the Fulcrum and threatening that continued failure would mean his life. He viciously tortures Dembe for information on Reddington's location but fails to break him. Through a deception involving Mr. Vargas, Solomon finally tricks Dembe into revealing the information and captures Reddington and Liz. However, Dembe rescues them and drives Solomon off. In "Sir Crispin Crandall", while trying to fire at Red and Liz, he finds himself trapped with all of the most intelligent people in cryogenics. Solomon visits Peter again and warns him of his position in the Cabal. Peter then reprimands him for trying to revolt and forces Solomon's cooperation. In "Zal Bin Hassan" Solomon traces Tom down to Wing Yee in the hopes of ambushing Liz and Tom but instead is caught by the FBI. During interrogation, the Director tortures Solomon by forcing him to swallow fishhooks, a ruse intended to convince the FBI that the Director is not in league with him. Solomon is then released.

Later, Solomon leads an assault team to kill Karakurt, who is being held by Tom Keen, Cooper, and Ressler. He captures Tom at gunpoint and demands that Ressler hand Karakurt over. However, Cooper knocks him out from behind, and Ressler arrests him.

While being transported by federal agents, Solomon is rescued by an unknown person driving a Rolls-Royce. Then, working for Susan Hargrave, he plots to steal a nuclear weapon. This plot turns out to be a decoy to divert the FBI's attention from his real mission: capturing Liz Keen. He and his men surround the church where Liz and Tom are about to be married and demand that Liz come with them or they will kill everyone else and take her by force. However, Reddington, Tom, and the task force members can fend off Solomon's men long enough for Ressler to come to the rescue, allowing Liz and Tom to escape. He chases Liz again after her escape and hunts her ambulance as Red tries to take her to the hospital to save her life. Solomon can disable Red's vehicle and pins him and his men down. Eventually FBI backup arrives and Solomon flees as his men are killed. However, the delay in getting to the hospital caused by Solomon's attack causes Liz to apparently die due to complications during childbirth.

In "Alexander Kirk", Solomon and Tom are forced to work together in an operation to take down Blacklister Alexander Kirk who had orchestrated the attack on Liz. During the mission, Tom and Solomon rob a pharmacy together and Tom shoots Solomon in the gut in revenge for the attempt on Liz's life. Minutes later the police enter to find a pool of blood but no sign of Solomon himself.

The Blacklist

The Blacklist is a list of criminals that Raymond Reddington has compiled in his illegal business dealings. Names on the list are criminals that the FBI does not have overwhelming evidence against, hence why they have never been caught. Some criminals are unknown to the FBI, or have avoided leaving behind the needed evidence for a conviction, or live a high-profile public life whilst concealing their criminal behavior. It was operated from a fictive company Evelyn in Washington, D.C. with affiliates around the world, communicating by fax. The list contains 200 criminals, of which the highest order belongs to Elizabeth Keen, while the lowest numeral is kept by Sean Bane a.k.a.The Hyena. [5] Of 200 numbers, 12 numbers were never filled, 3 blacklisters were not given a number and 2 blacklisters shared the same number.

The list is truly international with at least several members from Serbia, China, Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, Japan, Iran, Uzbekistan, etc., in addition to those from the United States and international organizations. There are also members marked with a Flag of None.svg symbol, whose country of origin was never determined throughout the series.

The numbers on The Blacklist (e. g. Elizabeth Keen, No. 1, Katarina Rostova, No. 3, Mr. Kaplan, No. 4, Dembe Zuma, No. 10) determine the danger the criminal may cause on Elizabeth, as was revealed in "Nachalo". Also, the numbers reflect the importance of the Blacklisters on the show's major storylines.

Various Blacklisters are also (or used to be) members of the Cabal.

  The Blacklister was introduced in a comic book.

Pavlovich brothers

Portrayed by Goran Ivanovski, Renne Gjoni, James Biberi and Stivi Paskoski

The Pavlovich brothers (Blacklisters No. 119–122) were four Serbian relatives who specialized in snatch and grab operations. They first got a taste for blood working for Milošević's protective detail during the ethnic cleansing campaigns of the Yugoslav Wars but went on to operate independently with no political affiliation. Working together as a team, they use high firepower and ruthless tactics to achieve their goals.

In the series' pilot, they kidnapped Beth Ryker, the daughter of General Daniel Ryker, by killing six FBI Agents during the ambush.

They then kidnapped a Chinese scientist who had been rescued by the CIA. Later, Raymond Reddington hired them to kidnap Tom Keen. They delivered Tom to Elizabeth Keen. While attempting to smuggle Xiaoping Li back to China, they were killed at McKendrick Pier.

Stanley Kornish, "The Stewmaker"

Stanley Kornish is portrayed by Tom Noonan, in 2013 and 2013 10.17.09TomNoonanByLuigiNovi.jpg
Stanley Kornish is portrayed by Tom Noonan, in 2013 and 2013

Portrayed by Tom Noonan (season 1, episode 4; season 2, episode 8)

Stanley R. Kornish (Blacklister No. 161), a dentist by trade, had a separate career as a professional body disposal expert. Working for whoever could afford his services, he used his expert knowledge of chemicals to dissolve corpses until there was almost nothing left. He kept a photo of and a tooth from each victim as a souvenir. His dog accompanied him on his disposals.

In "The Decembrist", Raymond Reddington tells Milos Kirchoff how he interrogated Kornish about a photograph of Zoe D'Antonio found on the body of one of his associates. He explains that Zoe was brought to Kornish, for him to make her disappear.

Gina Zanetakos

Gina Zanetakos is portrayed by Margarita Levieva, in 2013 and since 2016 MargaritaLevievaJun09.jpg
Gina Zanetakos is portrayed by Margarita Levieva, in 2013 and since 2016

Portrayed by Margarita Levieva

Gina Zanetakos (Blacklister No. 152) was a corporate terrorist who committed terrorist acts that resulted in corporations losing or gaining an advantage over the competition. Raymond Reddington said she once contacted him for help in assassinating a Supreme Court judge. He also claimed that she was a former lover of Tom Keen. She worked for the Major.

Using the alias Shubie Hartwell, she entered the United States. She was hired by the Hanar Group to detonate a dirty bomb in the Port of Houston. The explosion would have allowed the Hanar investors to profit from the re-routing of sea shipping to New Orleans. After being captured, she was allowed a plea bargain since the bomb had not devastated the port. A search of her apartment produced a photograph of Tom Keen who she claims not to know. When questioned about the murder of Victor Fokin, she claims to have committed the crime on the orders of Raymond Reddington.

Gina is eventually released from prison. Tom contacts her, looking for work to provide for Liz and his unborn baby. Gina reluctantly brings him to work on a jewelry heist. After they pull off the heist, she asks him to run away with her, and he refuses. She then double-crosses him and has him shot, but he survives. He then confronts her at gunpoint and demands that she persuade the Major to let him walk away from their organization, and she agrees. Later she is seen on the phone with an unknown person, talking about Tom.

Gina and the Major ambush Tom in Liz's apartment. The Major is about to kill Tom when Gina decides to kill the Major instead and leaves Tom to bury the body.

Anslo Garrick

Portrayed by Ritchie Coster

Anslo Garrick (Blacklister No. 16) was a mercenary who specialized in raiding secret and well-defended prison facilities and extracting high-level prisoners, always using extreme levels of violence. He worked almost exclusively with a unit of highly armed, countryless mercenaries known as "the Wild Bunch". At some point, he raided a CIA black site in the Bering Sea to exfiltrate a man named Mahmoud al-Azok. His employer paid him to plant evidence that blamed the raid on Peruvian insurgent organization Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso, Communist Party of Peru, Partido Comunista del Perú). At some point, he and Raymond Reddington worked together, though the alliance ended in 2008 when Garrick gave the FBI his train number and itinerary for a stop at Waterloo station in Brussels. Once Red arrived, a hit squad led by Donald Ressler attempted his life but failed. Red realized that Garrick had betrayed him and shot him in the face, damaging the right side of his face and apparently blinding his right eye. However, Garrick survived and spent 5 years in a prison described as a "black hole". To remind himself of the incident, Garrick never had the facial scarring repaired by surgery.

He was hired by Alan Fitch to kidnap Reddington. He succeeded in extracting Reddington from the FBI's custody and tortured him. Reddington ultimately killed him by stabbing him in the neck in "Anslo Garrick Conclusion".

Madeline Pratt

Madeline Pratt is portrayed by Jennifer Ehle Jennifer Ehle (30443863926).jpg
Madeline Pratt is portrayed by Jennifer Ehle

Portrayed by Jennifer Ehle

Madeline Pratt (Blacklister No. 73), outwardly, is a well-known and politically active socialite. Behind the facade, she forms relationships and affiliations with powerful, influential people and then uses those connections to commit million dollar heists. Reddington credits her with the theft of 6 million dollars' worth of diamonds from a De Beers outpost in Congo and a heist on a mint in Prague in which the security fibers used to print the Czech koruna were stolen and then used to print counterfeit banknotes. She had a previous romantic connection with Reddington, which he broke off.

In the first season, she poses as Red's widow to steal documents belonging to him worth 10  million dollars from a bank in Istanbul to gain his attention regarding the proposed theft of the Effigy of Atargatis (leaving the first note). She met with Elizabeth Keen, whom Red had said was a career thief. After using Red and Liz as a diversion to allow her to steal the Effigy of Atargatis, she sold it to the Russian mafia after removing the Kungar 6 list. Red tricked her into revealing the location of the nuclear warheads and allowed her to escape. Later she stole a painting from Red as revenge (leaving the second note).

In the second-season episode "T. Earl King VI", Pratt was "kidnapped" by the Kings to bait Red into infiltrating "The Palace" so he could be sold at their auction.

Milos Kirchoff, "Berlin"

Milos Kirchoff is portrayed by Peter Stormare, in 2014 Peter Stormare.jpg
Milos Kirchoff is portrayed by Peter Stormare, in 2014

Portrayed by Peter Stormare

Milos Kirchoff (Blacklister No. 8) is one of Reddington's nemeses between the first and second seasons.

Before the series, Kirchoff started in the Red Army, rose to the rank of Colonel, and later became a member of the KGB. Notorious for sending his enemies to the gulags in Siberia, he was a loyal servant of the Soviet Union. In 1991, near the end of the Cold War, Kirchoff took part in a meeting in Kursk with other Soviet officials on how to combat their more progressive countrymen who wanted the Soviet Union dissolved. The meeting was interrupted when a bomb went off, killing 15 attendants and the last of the old Soviet resistance. The act was done by a man named Kiryl Morozov on the orders of Alan Fitch, known as "The Decembrist", but Reddington was blamed. Shortly after that, Kirchoff's daughter was suspected of falling in love with a dissident and imprisoned. He used his connections to help her escape, but the Kremlin found out and decided to use him as an example to the Motherland.

He was put in a Siberian gulag where a lot of people he had put away were imprisoned. One day, he was sent a pocket watch he had given his daughter. Over several months, he was sent several body parts and was led to believe that they were hers and that Reddington was behind it. In reality, Fitch sent body parts belonging to someone else and helped Kirchoff's daughter escape to the United States, but not before convincing her that her father was responsible for the bombing. Eventually, Kirchoff sharpened one of the bones he had been sent into a weapon, killed the people holding him captive, and escaped and formed his criminal syndicate under the alias "Berlin".

During the first eight episodes of the second season, Red meets with Milos Kirchoff again, who once more blames him for his daughter's death and intends to hurt Red by going after Zoe, whom he assumes is Red's daughter. Red reveals that Milos Kirchoff's daughter Zoe is actually alive and someone else in Milos Kirchoff's faction had lied to him about her being killed. He is soon reunited with his daughter, who had been living under an assumed name as Zoe D'Antonio.

In the episode "The Decembrist", after being reunited with Zoe, Milos learned the truth of Red's innocence. He kills Kiryl Morozov after learning of Fitch's orders to frame Red and use Milos as a pawn. He was furious with Alan Fitch for lying to him about her death and takes action. Milos orders his agents to abduct Fitch and strap a pipe bomb on him, intending to kill him. Using Zoe to gain the access numbers to free Fitch, Red holds Milos at gunpoint. Red returns to the warehouse where he is holding Milos prisoner with a bottle of vodka and places 2 shot glasses in front of Milos. After they reminisce about the Cold War and finish the bottle, Red kills Milos.

Luther Braxton

Luther Braxton is portrayed by Ron Perlman, in 2015 Ron Perlman by Gage Skidmore 3.jpg
Luther Braxton is portrayed by Ron Perlman, in 2015

Portrayed by Ron Perlman

Luther Todd Braxton (Blacklister No. 21) is a professional thief known for stealing money and information from China, Iran, and the United States. He typically organizes his operations to take place during wars, natural disasters, or other upheavals and takes advantage of the surrounding chaos to cover them up. He is credited with stealing 282 million dollars from Baghdad during Operation Shock and Awe and the abduction of a CIA asset from Tehran during the 2009–10 Iranian election protests. Braxton has a past with Reddington, including an incident in Belgrade where Braxton bested him, killing Red's local point man, Henkel, and hanging him by the neck with one of Reddington's own neckties. While serving in the Gulf War, Braxton was involved in a traumatic friendly fire incident in Khafji. He was successfully given therapy to have the memories of it removed.

He was hired by the Director to get the Fulcrum, and captured and interrogated Liz to find it, subjecting her to therapy to help recover blocked memories from her past that related to the Fulcrum. He was killed by Reddington in episode 10 of season 2.

"The Major"

The Major is portrayed by Lance Henriksen Lance Henriksen cropped.jpg
The Major is portrayed by Lance Henriksen

Portrayed by Lance Henriksen

" The Major" (Blacklister No. 75) recruits social exiles who have a specific psychopathy personality profile. The persons are trained to act as spies for various clients. Once an agent has been assigned, they are to only contact the Major if the situation is "mission-critical". One of his star operatives was Jacob Phelps, who posed as "Tom Keen", Elizabeth Keen's husband, for several years. The terrorist Gina Zanetakos also works for him.

The Major tried to kill Tom but was killed by Gina instead.

Die Entrechteten

Die Entrechteten (German: "The Disenfranchised") are a neo-nazi movement that smuggle drugs and weapons around Europe. Tom had a contract to infiltrate inside until Reddington lied to them about Tom being an informant working for the FBI to bring him back to the USA and confess the murder of harbormaster Eugene Ames to free Liz from being imprisoned.

in the episode "The Longevity Initiative", the Germans track down both Tom and the Major and torture them for their leader's death. After they threatened him to kill Elizabeth if he didn't talk about his motives for his infiltration, Tom and makes a deal: in exchange for Liz would not be their target, he reveals his assignment: he's going to help them solve the murder of a woman named Sarah Hastings, who was affiliated to the Germans, which is the main reason they want revenge for her death. After accepting the truce, they let Tom and the Major go.

These are some of the members of the movement:

Marvin Gerard

Marvin Gerard is portrayed by Fisher Stevens, in 2015 FisherStevens07TIFF.jpg
Marvin Gerard is portrayed by Fisher Stevens, in 2015

Portrayed by Fisher Stevens

Marvin Gerard (Blacklister No. 80) was a Harvard alum and magna cum laude graduate, Gerard became the college's third-youngest professor at the age of 31. He went on to serve as prosecutor for the state of New York for 3 years, after which he made a partner at his father-in-law's criminal defense firm. While Gerard was being considered for a seat on the federal bench, his teenage son, Timothy, fell in with a bad crowd and, suffering emotional abuse from his mother, abused prescription drugs he got from her supply. Gerard separated from his wife and filed for custody, but since his wife came from an influential family, he wasn't able to. He eventually went so far as to kidnap Timothy to keep him away from his mother, for which he was disbarred and sentenced to 7–10 years at Federal Correctional Institution, Cumberland. Timothy hanged himself a year later. Gerard continued doing legal work behind bars, serving as shadow counsel to politicians, CEOs, and high-profile criminals, including Reddington, who apparently consulted with Gerard before he turned himself into the FBI against Gerard's strong objections.

In "Sir Crispin Crandall", Gerard locates the vault where Peter Kotsiopulos is keeping his embezzled money.

In "The Director, Conclusion", when Red puts together a team to exonerate Liz, he calls in Gerard as part of that team. Gerard helps them plan on how to kidnap Peter Kotsiopulos. Once they have the Director, Red demands Laurel Hitchin exonerate Liz in exchange for Red not taking the Director to the Hague and sends in Gerard to discuss the terms of the deal with Laurel. Eventually, Gerard manages to negotiate a deal where Liz is exonerated publicly for all but the Tom Connolly murder as Liz killed him in front of witnesses and it wasn't in self-defense. Instead, Laurel offers a plea of involuntary manslaughter with 3 years' probation. Gerard privately talks to Red and convinces him to take the deal as it will keep Liz safe and out of prison and is better than Gerard expected them to get. Gerard later presents the deal to Liz who reluctantly signs it as she will no longer able to be an FBI agent though she can remain on the task force in a similar capacity to Red. Thanks to Gerard's deal, Liz is later able to walk free. In "The Apothecary", Red believes Gerard poisoned him and is destroying his organization until it's revealed to be Dembe. In "Philomena", Gerard is kidnapped by a bounty hunter, Philomena, who works for Mr. Kaplan. When he refuses to turn against Reddington, Kaplan leaves him bound to a lamppost, and he is arrested by the police. He coerces Ressler into arranging his release by threatening to reveal the latter's collaboration with Reddington to Julian Gale.

In "Caelum Bank," he is revealed to be the one responsible for the murder of Elizabeth Keen.

In "Marvin Gerard: Conclusion," he is hunted by both the Taskforce and Red, putting them at odds with each other. Gerard is eventually arrested by Ressler, but he offers a deal to create a new Taskforce with Gerard replacing Red which the Justice Department decides to accept. Gerard privately tells Ressler that it doesn't feel like a win to him but rather a loss for both Marvin and Red as he would've faithfully served Red for the rest of his life if he could've. Gerard believes that Red will eventually succeed in killing him one day no matter what precautions are taken to protect him. In the judge's chambers, Red confronts Gerard, expressing understanding about his actions which Gerard believes were necessary to protect their syndicate from falling apart. However, Red calls Gerard a coward who can't ever hope to replace him, pointing out that Gerard's actions had left him hidden rather committing Liz's murder himself. Accepting his fate and admitting that he'd never even wanted to win against his friend, Gerard order Red to kill him, but when the judge returns, Gerard is still alive and Red is gone. Gerard completes his deal and he is later released with the charges against Cooper being dropped as a result, but he first reveals the truth about Red's deal to Wujing and a list of people that he's sent to prison all over the world. Red later reveals to Cooper that he had allowed Gerard's deal to go through on the condition that Gerard take his own life after being given the chance to say goodbye and put his affairs into order. If he had refused, Red would've seen if he could've gone through with killing his friend. Gerard had accepted the deal, but told Red that to him the most important thing in the world was their work on the Blacklist, but it wasn't to Red. Gerard later commits suicide while sitting in his car. Panabaker later reveals this to Red and Cooper along with the fact that the Attorney General has agreed to keep his promise to drop the charges against Cooper and to continue the Taskforce with Reddington. Gerard dies one day before the three year anniversary of Liz's death.

Zal Bin Hasaan

Zal Bin Hasaan is portrayed by Sammy Sheik, in 2015 Sammy Sheik.jpg
Zal Bin Hasaan is portrayed by Sammy Sheik, in 2015

Portrayed by Sammy Sheik

Zal Bin Hasaan (Blacklister No. 31), born Shahin Navabi, is the younger brother of Mossad agent Samar Navabi. He witnessed his parents' murder at a very young age. He faked his own death after carrying out his very first bomb attack, adopted the pseudonym "Zal Bin Hasaan", and began a career as a feared and vicious terrorist in the service of the Iranian regime. He evaded capture for many years, despite the best efforts of an elite Mossad task force dedicated to hunting him down. He resurfaced in America, where he abducted six technicians working on Israel's Iron Dome defense system. Posing as a hostage, he was reunited with his sister, claiming he had gone into hiding to avoid persecution. He and his men infiltrated a Mossad compound, seeking a list that contained the names of the members of the task force. However, Samar and her ex-partner destroyed it when she found out his actions as a terrorist. After Shahin was captured by Red, Samar disowns him, believing that he died with their parents. She leaves him in Red's custody, and Red turned him over to unnamed associates in exchange for a favor.

Artax Network

The Artax Network (Blacklister No. 41) is a defunct network of communications satellites that was intended to provide data coverage throughout the globe. Matias Solomon and his employers used it to track all of Liz Keen's movements and actions. Aram discovered this and the FBI forced Solomon's group to abandon the network.

Katarina Rostova

Katarina Rostova is portrayed by Lotte Verbeek Nothing Personal still 1 LARGE - David van den Bergklein.jpg
Katarina Rostova is portrayed by Lotte Verbeek

Portrayed by Lotte Verbeek

Katarina Rostova (Blacklister No. 3) was a Russian spy who was assigned to turn Raymond Reddington but instead formed a romantic relationship with him that resulted in the birth of Masha Rostova/Elizabeth Keen. Her father was named Dom.

In "Cape May", it is revealed that Reddington believed that she had committed suicide by drowning to protect Liz from unknown individuals who were pursuing her. He continued to tell Liz that her mother was dead, despite receiving a painting commissioned by someone who claimed to be Rostova. However, Liz and Tom suspected she was alive. Katarina had left a journal in the house that Kirk claimed Liz grew up in and while reading it, she learns more about Katarina's affair with Red along with the Rostov family's long history with rare cancer.

In the season 4 episode "Requiem", it is revealed that Katarina hired Mr. Kaplan to be Liz's nanny. During this time, Katarina was forced to kill a Soviet agent in self-defense; Kaplan disposed of the body. Later, Katarina tells Kaplan that Reddington kidnapped Liz, believing her to be his daughter. She was unaware that he took Liz to America to live with his family out of a need to protect both her and Katarina from not only Kirk/Rostov (who found out about the affair) but also Berlin/Kirchoff who was attacking him. Katarina rescued Liz but was forced to flee when both the US and Russian governments began hunting her. She asked Kaplan to leave Liz in the care of the man who would become her foster father, Sam.

In "Mr. Kaplan Conclusion", before her suicide, Kaplan prayed for Katarina to forgive her as she dug up the suitcase and left it in a storage locker. The suitcase was later retrieved by Tom Keen and opened to discover skeletal remains that apparently belong to the real Raymond Reddington.

In "Rassvet", it is revealed that Katarina was a double agent working both for the Cabal and the KGB. The real Reddington was the man shot by Liz on the night of the fire from which he was pulled by Katarina and her lover Ilya Koslov in an attempt to save Reddington's life. However, Reddington died of his injuries and the two covered up his death, leading to Reddington being declared missing. Katarina's apparent suicide was to fake her death, but her survival was exposed to Anton Velov when Katarina intervened to stop a rape at a shelter she was living at. After a brief period in hiding, she and Ilya traveled to Moscow to warn her father, who was also her KGB handler, to leave Russia to escape the Soviet government's reprisals for her treason. Later she tried to kill herself but was stopped by Ilya. She then agreed to his proposal to assume Raymond Reddington's identity and gain access to his accounts, to protect her and her daughter Masha from the Cabal, and to stop Reddington from being discredited as she knew he would be. In the present, Liz locates Katarina's father who reveals that twenty-eight years before, Katarina visited him and promised to send Dom a letter to a post office box once it was safe for her again. Though Dom checks every week, Katarina has not sent one letter despite it having been nearly thirty years. Dom is unsure if she is still alive, convinced that Katarina would've made contact if she was still around.

In "Robert Diaz", Katarina is revealed to be alive and living in Paris. When Red/Ilya appeared to warn her about the former KGB's newest assassination attempt on her life, Katarina briefly kisses him before stabbing him in the stomach. A group of men takes Red away in a car and she leaves, carrying only his hat.

Katarina brutally interrogates Reddington for information on an unnamed group that is pursuing her. After Reddington escapes to Dom's house, Katarina makes an unsuccessful attempt to recapture him. She then moves into an apartment across the hall from Liz, posing as Madeleine Tolliver, a friendly retiree with an estranged daughter. She begins insinuating herself into Liz's life, installing surveillance devices in Liz's apartment and babysitting Agnes. While taking Agnes to the park, she inadvertently allows Agnes to see the dead body of an assailant she killed.

Using knowledge gleaned from her surveillance, she finds and kidnaps "Frank Bloom", addressing him as Ilya Koslov and torturing him for information on an attempt on her life he helped engineer years ago in Belgrade. After Liz discovers "Madeleine" is an imposter and confronts her at gunpoint, Katarina admits she is Liz's mother. Katarina abducts Liz and tells her that Frank Bloom, not Reddington, is the real Ilya Koslov and that both Reddington and Dom are lying. Liz helps her escape when the FBI closes in on her location. Reddington is tailing Katarina when a car runs into her vehicle and two assassins shoot her and drag away the body. It is later revealed that Katarina faked her own death to convince Reddington to stop hunting her. She contacts Liz, promising to return when she has found out who is pursuing her.

Katarina returned to abduct her father Dom for the information that he, Ilya, and Red refused to give. Elizabeth chooses her mother over Raymond and betrays her FBI colleagues and kidnaps her grandfather Dom. Katarina explained that Dom and Ilya tried to kill her to get a group called the Townsend Directive to believe she died, as Dom told Townsend that Katarina was supposedly a secret agent codenamed N-13 who had blackmail information on multiple countries called the Sikorsky Archive. These countries put together the Townsend Directive as a bounty on their target whom they think is N-13, Katarina. A dying Dom tells Katarina she did indeed take the Archive much to her confusion and that she and Reddington have it. She leaves before Reddington gets there but he comforts a dying Dom, telling him Katarina loved Dom. Katarina calls to meet a member of Townsend only to have been beaten by Raymond to the meet. He reveals Dom died and wasn't surprised by her lack of love for him. He informs her that he had no idea that Dom and Ilya would try to kill her but she was angry that he let the world believe the lie so the Townsend Directive wouldn't chase him, as she believes he's N-13. He claims he could have kept her safe as he always had but she needed answers and now they've destroyed her. Katarina left her phone on Elizabeth's voicemail with Katarina claiming that Raymond is N-13, which he neither confirms nor denies, simply stating things are much more complicated. As she tries to walk off, not thinking he'll kill her or lose Elizabeth, Reddington shoots and kills Katarina in front of the just arriving Elizabeth. This sparks Elizabeth's revenge crusade upon Reddington.

In "Nachalo", Elizabeth is taken to the heart of Reddington's empire - an old Cold War-era Soviet bunker in Latvia - where she finally learns the truth about Reddington. Katarina appears in several flashbacks as well as an image narrating the story to her daughter. Elizabeth learns that after the death of the real Raymond Reddington it was in fact Katarina who had her memory of that night erased in order to protect her daughter and then sent Elizabeth to live with Sam Scott for her own protection. Elizabeth also learns that much of what she was told about Katarina and Ilya Koslov was actually true, but Dom had lied about who eventually became Raymond Reddington. The Katarina that was targeted for assassination by Dom and Ilya was not in fact the real Katarina but instead an asset named Tatiana Petrova who was set up by Ilya and Dom to fool the Townsend Directive into thinking that Katarina was actually dead. However, the assassination plan backfired, leading to the death of Tatiana's husband instead. It was in fact Tatiana in the guise of Katarina whom Elizabeth had met, Tatiana seeking the real Katarina in order to get Neville Townsend to stop hunting her and get her life back. Tatiana used Elizabeth's love for her mother to manipulate Elizabeth into helping her and was killed by Reddington in order to protect the real Katarina, who is alive and well, after Dom revealed to Tatiana where to find her. The image of Katarina explains to Elizabeth that it was in fact Katarina herself who had constructed the fake Raymond Reddington using the legend that had grown around the real one due to Katarina framing him as a traitor so that Katarina could create someone who could protect her daughter from all of Katarina's enemies when Katarina could not. Before Elizabeth can learn who Reddington really is or where to find the real Katarina, the bunker is attacked by Townsend.

Alexander Kirk

Alexander Kirk is portrayed by Ulrich Thomsen Ulrich Thomsen o.jpg
Alexander Kirk is portrayed by Ulrich Thomsen

Portrayed by Ulrich Thomsen

Alexander Kirk (Blacklister No. 14), born Constantin Rostov, is a powerful billionaire businessman who made his fortune buying up Russian companies after the fall of the Soviet Union. He claims to be Elizabeth Keen's father and is suffering from an unrevealed medical condition (possibly a low blood cell count).

Kirk was revealed to be the mysterious client who had hired Susan Hargrave to capture Liz. After Liz faked her death, he hires an assassin to kill Tom Keen and take Agnes. Reddington and Hargrave steal $300 million from Senator Diaz, a presidential candidate Kirk was backing, in an attempt to lure Kirk to the United States, but Kirk does not take the bait. After Reddington frames him for selling oil to rebels, Kirk is forced to appear before a congressional committee to testify. He changes his mind at the last minute when his men ping Tom's phone at the hospital where Agnes is being cared for, and discover Liz is alive. He flies to the Keens' new hideaway in Cuba, has Liz kidnapped and brought to him, and tells her that he is her father.

Liz is in disbelief at Kirk's claims and doesn't trust him. So Kirk takes her to the house he claimed she grew up in, near Nova Scotia. When the FBI rescued her, Kirk decides to continue his revenge on Red by keeping Agnes from him. Red reveals why Kirk had kidnapped both Liz and Agnes in the first place: he is dying of a rare genetic blood disease that female relatives do not share. Kirk intends to use Liz for a bone marrow transplant to save his own life. In "Dr. Adrian Shaw", Liz attempts to save Kirk through the transplant; but the DNA test performed by the hospital reveals that Kirk is not her father. Angered by the fact that he lied to her and sent her falsified DNA transcripts, Liz abandons Kirk. In "Dr. Adrian Shaw: Conclusion", Kirk escapes the hospital with Liz and is upset to learn he really isn't her father. Kirk trades Liz for Red though the person he sends to release Liz safely tries to kill her, saying that Kirk used to be a good man until he saw her on TV on the run from the Cabal and became obsessed with her. Liz is rescued by Ressler and Samar and with Aram's help, tracks down Kirk's location. Kirk tortures Red who confesses to being Liz's father and brings Kirk a cure. Kirk decides to kill Red rather than release him in exchange for the cure and the two men reminisce over Katarina Rostova. As Kirk goes to kill Red, Red whispers something in his ear that causes Kirk to stop. Both men disappear from Kirk's lab afterward and later that night, Red tells Liz that Kirk is "gone". When Liz asks if Kirk is dead, all Red will say is that Kirk is gone with no further explanation. In "Lipet's Seafood Company", it's confirmed that Red allowed Kirk to escape. Cooper berates Red for this, but Red simply tells him that Kirk is gone and won't be coming back and insists they move on.

In "Nachalo", Kirk appears in flashbacks as Liz learns the story behind the creation of the fake Raymond Reddington.

Mr. Kaplan

Portrayed by Susan Blommaert and Joanna P. Adler (young Kaplan)

Kate "Mr." Kaplan (Blacklister No. 4), born Kathryn "Kathya" Nemec, is Reddington's personal "cleaner" who comes in to scrub crime scenes. She cleans up after Liz kills one of the men watching her from across the street, and then helps Liz find Reddington. Ep. 1–10 Later, she helps Reddington clean up after he kills Diane Fowler at the end of episode 13 of season 1. She also disposes of the bodies of Lucy Brooks and the Cowboy once they are found by Reddington's people. In season 3, she helps Liz fake her death so she can escape from Reddington. For this, she is shot in the head by Reddington in the second episode of season 4, but survives and is held hostage by an unknown man in "Gaia". She later recovers and leaves.

In the season 4 episode "Requiem", it is revealed that she was hired by Katarina Rostova to be young Liz's nanny. She became friends with Katarina after discovering she was a Soviet spy and learned that she was having an affair with Reddington. When Katarina was forced to flee and abandon her daughter, Kaplan left Liz with her foster father, Sam. Later, she fell in love with a woman named Annie Kaplan and assumed her surname after Annie was murdered in front of her. She then joined Reddington's employ to protect Liz, on the understanding that she would always place Liz's interests ahead of his. In the present day, she exhumes all the bodies she buried for Reddington over the years, intending to use them to destroy him. In "Philomena", Kaplan hires Philomena, a bounty hunter, to kidnap two of Reddington's subordinates, including Marvin Gerard. She tells Liz that she was her nanny, and warns Liz not to get involved in the fight between her and Reddington.

In "The Debt Collector", Kaplan calls a temporary truce with the FBI to find Liz after the latter is kidnapped. She tracks down Liz, only to learn that Reddington engineered the kidnapping to draw her out. When she confronts him, she declares that the two of them can't coexist.

In "Mr. Kaplan"/"Mr. Kaplan: Conclusion", Kaplan attacks the task force, first attempting to steal a copy of Reddington's immunity agreement with the DOJ and give it to Julian Gale. When Reddington foils this plan, Kaplan agrees to testify about Reddington's crimes to a grand jury. Before doing so, she exhumes a suitcase containing the skeleton of an unknown individual. After the grand jury is dissolved through Reddington's machinations, Kaplan is cornered by the FBI and Reddington. The latter refuses to kill her and admits his remorse for trying in the first place, but she tells him that she has arranged for an accomplice to give Liz "the truth" after her death, then she commits suicide. Afterward, her accomplice revealed to be Tom Keen, picks up the suitcase, presumably to deliver it to Liz.

In "Misère", Kaplan visits Elizabeth as a part of her hallucinations to show her, who she became much alike. Under Kaplan’s guidelines, Liz provokes Reddington by abducting his love interest, Anne. When Red arrives, he notes that he clearly sees Kaplan behind Liz; however, before Liz could use the opportunity to stop Red, Anne attempts to escape, but instead she is bumped into the table and killed. Liz escapes from grieving Red, and never sees Kaplan since then.

In "El Conejo", after six years of her death, Reddington visits the keeper of his one-of-a-kind security safe with his lessons recorded to Liz in Montenegro and investigates them being found in a storage of a murdered policeman, who had connection neither with Red, nor Liz. He discovers the safe to be a duplicate and calls the master, who made the safe. The master, however, tells Red about the duplicate being ordered by Mr. Kaplan, leaving the question of her being still alive all that time. In "Laszlo Jancowics", Red contacts her sister, Maureen, and finds a link to Kaplan. This link was her private cleaner, with whom she arranged a meeting at the disused factory. But when Red sends his squad to capture Kaplan, the factory blows up with Kaplan, Chuck and Morgan in it.

In "The Bear Mask", Vladimir Cvetko examines the DNA of what has left from Kaplan after the explosion and reveals that her data is only half-accurate, meaning that the woman attacked was not Kaplan, but Maureen. In "Caelum Bank", Marvin Gerard claims that the whole trick about Kaplan was one of his plans to make Reddington step back from investigating the murder of Elizabeth.

Henry Prescott

Portrayed By James Carpinello

Henry Prescott was a cleaner hired to dispose of bodies accidentally or intentionally killed by the victims. His services were used by Red to help the Task Force get them Reven Wright's body as evidence to strengthen Donald Ressler's case against Hitchin and forced her to help whitewash the Grand Jury to throw off Kaplan and Julian Gale. Prescott's services were later used by Ressler under the pseudonym of Frank Sturgeon to dispose of Hitchin's body after he accidentally kills her.

In "Smokey Putnum" upon discovering Ressler's true identity, Prescott blackmails him for favors if he wants his secret to remain under wraps. In "Miss Rebecca Thrall", he calls Ressler for a favor in relocating a package inside a car. Prescott mentions that should he refuse, he will expose Ressler's secret and he will go to jail for the murder of Laurel Hitchin.

In "The Informant", while pursuing a criminal associated Prescott calls Ressler again, warning him if he pursues his clients, he will call off the deal and Ressler will go to jail. With Red's help, Ressler discovers Prescott's real name is Mitchell Hatley and gives chase. Despite Ressler wanting to see him go to trial and be imprisoned, Red and his men attack and stop the FBI transport convoy and Red burns the imprisoned Prescott alive inside the vehicle.

Ian Garvey

Ian Garvey is portrayed by Jonny Coyne Jonny Coyne by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Ian Garvey is portrayed by Jonny Coyne

Portrayed by Jonny Coyne

Ian Garvey (Blacklister No. 13) is a corrupt U.S. Marshal who is running a drug distribution ring. He and his men follow Tom to his home to take both him and Liz hostage. Taking the skeletal remains in a black bag, Garvey orders his men to kill the two. Elizabeth survives while Tom dies from his wounds. While holding on to the skeletal remains, Garvey later discovers a DNA test was done on the remains and learns who the remains belong to.

In "Pattie Sue Edwards", Garvey discovers that Singleton had learned the truth and forewarned that if he pursued criminal charges against him, Singleton's family will die. He kills Singleton to ensure his secret remains safe, but one person witnessed the murder unfold.

In "The Capricorn Killer", Garvey meets up with Red in a motel room with knowledge of the skeletal remains. He mentions that Red should tell him why the remains are important to him. Red refuses but mentions he will get rid of the witness and his family if he doesn't go public with the information. Despite Garvey agreeing to it, he also warns that if Red kills him, the truth in how Katarina died will be exposed.

In "Anna Gracia-Duerte", Garvey attempts to take Liz and Aram hostage, both are looking for the witness' whereabouts. However, Red foils this plan and rescues them. He later calls Garvey up, telling him that he knew he tried to take his daughter from him and also that he knows of his illegal dealings.

In "Zarak Mosadek", Garvey meets at a bar with a woman who is revealed to be Jennifer Reddington and works as a bartender. It's later revealed that he put her into the Witness Protection Program to protect her from Red and from an abusive past she and her mother both endured from him.

In "Ian Garvey: Conclusion", Garvey meets Jennifer at a park in Baltimore and tells her what he plans to do to Red. However, Red strikes first with the help of Sinclair using a double to pose as him, while the real Garvey is taken, hostage. While being held hostage, Red explains there's a manhunt going on for his arrest in the murder of Zarak Mosadek. While en route to collect the duffel bag containing the mysterious remains, Garvey rams his car into a parked car and escapes while leaving Red and Dembe there. He goes over to Paul's Pub to seek Jennifer's help in getting money while instructing her to claim it's a robbery in progress. However, Liz gets to him first via a back door and orders Garvey to tell her the whereabouts of the duffel bag. Ian soon learns about her connection to Red from Jennifer.

At the end of "Ian Garvey: Conclusion", Garvey is shot several times by Liz and Dembe when he attempts to kill Red, leaving him severely wounded. Wanting to know what Garvey knows about the bones, Liz attempts to save his life and he is rushed to the hospital where the doctors announce that they are losing his pulse. At the beginning of "Nicholas T. Moore", it's confirmed in a conversation between Red and Liz that Garvey died of his wounds. However, Liz is not happy as the answers that he possessed had died along with him.

At the beginning of "Lawrence Devlin", Red learns from Joe that the duffel bag containing the unidentified bones that Reddington is seeking is in Costa Rica with a man who was claimed to be deceased, but is alive due to Garvey keeping him in Witness Protection.

Bastien Moreau

Portrayed by Christopher Lambert

Bastien Moreau (Blacklister No. 20) also known as The Corsican, is an expert assassin shrouded in so much mystery that his mere existence has long been considered a myth—and he is willing to go to any lengths to regain his anonymity after his true identity is uncovered. [6] Moreau is a terrorist with an anti-globalist, nationalist political ideology. He underwent plastic surgery to disguise his identity before attempting to bomb the UN. After assassinating Ana Ziegler on the orders of Anna McMahon, he discovers McMahon had manipulated him into killing Ziegler under pretenses and turns against her. He is killed by President Diaz's aides to prevent him from giving information to the FBI.

Anna McMahon

Portrayed by Jennifer Ferrin

Anna McMahon (Blacklister No. 60), is an assistant US Attorney General who is masterminding a criminal conspiracy with President Diaz. She hires Bastien Moreau to bomb the UN and then to assassinate Ava Ziegler, a German intelligence officer in possession of a file containing compromising information on the conspiracy. She vehemently opposes staying Reddington's execution but is overruled by the President when Cooper threatens to go public about Ziegler's assassination. She is later assigned to be the Justice Department's liaison with the Task Force. Reddington believes she is connected with a terrorist group called the Third Estate, but this turns out to be a red herring planted by McMahon to divert the Task Force's attention. Eventually, McMahon becomes aware the Task Force is actively investigating her involvement in the conspiracy. After Liz and Ressler retrieve Ziegler's file, McMahon has the entire Task Force arrested, framing them for conspiring against the President. After the Task Force escapes and foils the plot, they are recaptured by McMahon and her Secret Service agents but manage to break free with Reddington's help. McMahon is about to kill Reddington when Dembe arrives and kills her.

Ivan Stepanov

Portrayed by David E. Harrison

Ivan Stepanov (Blacklister No. 5) is a Russian spymaster that works for the SVR and the Zaslon subunit, where he was responsible for running black operations. A protegee of Dominic Wilkinson, Stepanov has been a longtime friend and ally to Raymond Reddington and is the former handler of Katarina Rostova. He and Reddington are part of a select few with access and knowledge to a blackmail file known as the Sikorsky Archive. He appears to see himself as a handler of Reddington, although Reddington makes it clear to him that he does not see it that way. Eventually, Stepanov is kidnapped by Neville Townsend and interrogated about his relationship with Reddington and Keen. Under duress he whispers a confession to Neville that immediately sets Neville on a mission to kill Elizabeth to torture Red. In the aftermath, Ivan meets Elizabeth for the first time, and to his shock realizes he recognizes her as Masha Rostova. Liz learns he was a protege of Dominic Wilkinson and closely involved with her mother. In private, Ivan chokes up with emotion over finally getting to see Masha after 35 years only to put a target on her back. In Nachalo, it's revealed that Ivan was an old friend of both Dom and Katarina and served as Katarina's KGB handler. Later, Ivan had been the person to steal the Sikorsky Archive after Katarina's faked death which became the central core of Red's criminal empire. Neville Townsend is revealed to have learned the truth about Katarina and Red from Ivan during his torture which is why Townsend had started hunting for Liz.

Rakitin

Portrayed by Seth Numrich

Andrew Patterson (Blacklister No. 28) is a Russian hacker and deep cover SVR double agent, codenamed Rakitin, who uses his security clearance within the U.S. government to funnel top secret intelligence to N-13 through Ivan Stepanov. Patterson pays Red an impromptu visit in the backseat of Red’s car, where Patterson reveals his name has come up in a U.S. House Select Committee on Intelligence investigation. Patterson wants Red to make the problem go away, and is also concerned about staying in the good graces of a company called Scuti Global. Red is being called upon by Ivan Stepanov over concerns about Elizabeth Keen. Later, Red and Dembe leverage a staffer in the House intel offices named Guinevere Claflin to get her to delete the Patterson investigation files from the House servers in exchange for a new identity, cash, and her tax evasion is ignored. Later, out of fear for his identity to be revealed, Patterson kidnaps Harold Cooper after using Congressman Russell Friedenberg as a lure, offering him to trade his life for his daughter's safety. Friedenberg calls Cooper to a meeting at a parking structure, where Friedenberg is killed and Cooper walks into Patterson's trap. He gets kidnapped to a warehouse and Reddington is unable to call it off. Reddington then tracks Patterson to the warehouse and saves Cooper, while Patterson is taken into FBI custody. Cooper calls Cynthia Panabaker to get a confession from Patterson, but Reddington manages to kill Patterson via a lethal piece of paper after he blackmails Alina Park into slippling this into Patterson's interrogation room. Cooper remains convinced that Reddington is N-13.

Neville Townsend

Portrayed by Reg Rogers (Season 8)

Neville Townsend was a drug lord and crime lord in Russia with ties to the Russian Bratva, that used his ports to move their drugs. 30 years ago, as the result of N-13's actions, his narcotics smuggling operation was exposed. Because of that, the Bratva's Vory murdered his family as a warning to not turn state's evidence against them. The tragedy left him emotionally scarred and unable to sleep with a stable pattern. Believing N-13 to be Katarina Rostova, due to his KGB sources, Townsend created the Townsend Directive, a dead-only bounty on Katarina Rostova. Townsend himself was mentioned in a flashback scene between Ilya Koslov and Dominic Wilkinson in a cafe in Belgrade, where Dom was explaining the formation of the Townsend Directive. In "The Cyranoid," he allies with Elizabeth Keen in order to take down the real N-13, Reddington, the one responsible for the murder of his family. He tries to get to him in all costs, ending his attempts in "Ivan Stepanov," when he captures the second assassin, Ivan, and tortures him to get more information about Red. Instead, he’s given that Liz is Red’s daughter, so he decides to kill her in Red’s sight to complete his revenge. He orders The Protean to assassinate Liz, but he fails, so Townsend takes the situation under his own control. In "Nachalo," he attacks Red’s bunker and kills all of the analysts, but he is blown up with all of his squad by Reddington after hearing apologies for killing his family from him.

Elias VanDyke

Portrayed by Lukas Hassel (Season 8)

Elias VanDyke was a proud, loyal enforcer in Neville Townsend’s organization who carried out their operations and led highly trained teams on regular missions. He was often a point man in Neville’s hunt for Reddington, and later for Elizabeth Keen. After Townsend died in "Nachalo," he up took the purpose of hunting Elizabeth down. In "Konets," he succeeded in it and murdered Liz just before she was going to shoot Red, but he is killed by Red afterwards. The question of how VanDyke reached Liz and where he retrieved such information from is proposed as a lead mystery in the next season. In "Caleum Bank," it's revealed that Marvin Gerard was responsible for VanDyke finding and murdering her.

The Cabal

The Cabal is a powerful clandestine organization, a shadow government orchestrating assassinations and international conflicts, responsible for many key events in the series, from the arson at Elizabeth Keen's former house to the bombing in Kurzk for which Milos Kirchoff (Berlin) was framed. The core members of this group are greatly concerned with retrieving the Fulcrum, a blackmail file that can bring down many of the most influential men and women in the world.

MemberCountryCareerStatusActorAppearance(s)
Diane Fowler Flag of the United States.svg
  • The United States Assistant Attorney General
  • Head of Criminal Division of the Department of Justice
  • Alan Fitch's follower
Deceased Jane Alexander
  • "The Freelancer"
  • "Anslo Garrick: Conclusion"
  • "The Good Samaritan"
  • "The Cyprus Agency"
The Man with the Apple Flag of None.svg
  • Spy
  • Stalker in the former Keen residence
DeceasedGraeme Malcolm
  • "Wujing"
  • "The Courier"
  • "Gina Zanetakos"
  • "General Ludd"
  • "Anslo Garrick: Conclusion"
Alan Fitch
The Decembrist
Flag of the United States.svg
  • Assistant Director of National Intelligence
Deceased Alan Alda
  • "Anslo Garrick: Conclusion"
  • "The Good Samaritan"
  • "The Kingmaker"
  • "Berlin: Conclusion"
  • "The Decembrist"
Walter Gary Martin Flag of the United States.svg
  • Alan Fitch's right-hand man
  • FBI agent initially in charge of investigating the disappearance of Diane Fowler
Active Jason Butler Harner
  • "Madeline Pratt"
  • "Berlin"
  • "Berlin: Conclusion"
  • "Lord Baltimore"
Thomas Connolly
Smiling Tommy
Flag of the United States.svg
  • The United States Assistant Attorney General
  • United States Attorney General
Deceased Reed Birney
  • "The Judge"
  • "The Kenyon Family"
  • "T. Earl King IV"
  • "Tom Keen"
  • "Leonard Caul"
  • "Quon Zhang"
  • "Karakurt"
  • "Tom Connolly"
Kiryl Morozov Flag of Russia.svg
  • Alan Fitch's follower
  • Responsible for the 1991 Kursk bombing for which Reddington and Berlin were both framed
Deceased Alon Moni Aboutboul
Peter Kotsiopulos
The Director
Flag of the United States.svg
  • Director of the CIA's National Clandestine Service (NCS)
  • One of the Cabal's leaders
Deceased David Strathairn
  • "Luther Braxton"
  • "Luther Braxton: Conclusion"
  • "Vanessa Cruz"
  • "Leonard Caul"
  • "Quon Zhang"
  • "The Troll Farmer"
  • "Arioch Cain"
  • "Sir Crispin Crandall"
  • "Zal Bin Hasaan"
  • "The Director"
  • "The Director: Conclusion"
Roger Hobbs Flag of the United States.svg
  • Owner of the Longevity Initiative
  • Owner of Sadovo Solutions
Deceased Ralph Brown
  • "The Longevity Initiative"
  • "Vanessa Cruz"
Kenneth Jasper Flag of None.svg
  • The Director's follower
UnknownJames A. Stephens
  • "Vanessa Cruz"
  • "Quon Zhang"
Leonard Caul
(born Joseph McCray)
Flag of the United States.svg
  • A key figure from Reddington's past
  • Former CIA spy
  • Creator of the Fulcrum
ActiveNed Van Zandt
  • "The Kenyon Family"
  • "The Deer Hunter"
  • "Leonard Caul"
  • "Quon Zhang"
  • "Karakurt"
  • "Tom Connolly"
  • "The Djinn"
Karakurt Flag of Russia.svg Captured
  • "Quon Zhang"
  • "Karakurt"
  • "Tom Connolly"
  • "Sir Crispin Crandall"
  • "Zal Bin Hasaan"
  • "Kings of the Highway"
  • "The Director"
  • "The Director: Conclusion"
Matias Solomon Flag of Ethiopia.svg
  • Senior Cabal operative
Active Edi Gathegi
  • "The Troll Farmer"
  • "Marvin Gerard"
  • "Eli Matchett"
  • "Arioch Cain"
  • "Sir Crispin Crandall"
  • "Zal Bin Hasaan"
  • "Kings of the Highway"
  • "The Director"
  • "Mr. Solomon"
  • "Mr. Solomon: Conclusion"
  • "Alexander Kirk"
Susan Hanover Flag of the United States.svg
  • CTO of Verdiant Industries
CapturedCindy Katz
  • "Eli Matchett"
Laurel Hitchin Flag of the United States.svg
  • National security advisor to the President
  • Former Assistant Secretary of State
Deceased Christine Lahti
  • "Arioch Cain"
  • "Zal Bin Hasaan"
  • "Kings of the Highway"
  • "The Director"
  • "The Director: Conclusion"
  • "Susan Hargrave"
  • "The Lindquist Concern"
  • "Dr. Bogdan Krilov"
  • "Mr. Kaplan: Conclusion"
  • "Smokey Putnum"

Supporting characters

Introduced in season one

Introduced in season two

Introduced in season three

Introduced in season four

Introduced in season five

Introduced in season six

Introduced in season seven

Introduced in season eight

Introduced in season nine

^Ep 1–9 "Anslo Garrick". The Blacklist. November 25, 2013. NBC.
^Ep 1–10 "Anslo Garrick Conclusion". The Blacklist. December 2, 2013. NBC.
^Ep 1–11 "The Good Samaritan". The Blacklist. January 13, 2014. NBC.
^Ep 1–16 "Mako Tanida". The Blacklist. March 17, 2014. NBC.

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The Blacklist is an American crime thriller television series created by Jon Bokenkamp and developed by John Eisendrath. It stars James Spader as Raymond Reddington, an international criminal and one of the FBI's Most Wanted fugitives who cooperates with the FBI in hunting down other criminals on his "Blacklist". The series also stars Megan Boone, Diego Klattenhoff, Ryan Eggold, Amir Arison, Hisham Tawfiq, and Harry Lennix.

<i>The Blacklist</i> season 1 Season of television series

The first season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on NBC on September 23, 2013. The season was produced by Davis Entertainment, Universal Television, and Sony Pictures Television, and the executive producers are Jon Bokenkamp, John Davis, John Eisendrath, John Fox, and Joe Carnahan.

<i>The Blacklist</i> season 2 Season of television series

The second season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on NBC on September 22, 2014, and concluded on May 14, 2015, and ran for 22 episodes. The season was produced by Davis Entertainment, Universal Television, and Sony Pictures Television, and the executive producers are Jon Bokenkamp, John Davis, John Eisendrath, John Fox, and Joe Carnahan.

"The Decembrist" is the eighth episode of the second season of the television series The Blacklist, aired on NBC on November 10, 2014. The episode was directed by Michael Watkins, and written by Jon Bokenkamp and John Eisendrath. This episode serves as the season's fall finale; the show returned on February 1, 2015 after the 49th Super Bowl.

"Luther Braxton" is the ninth episode of the second season of American crime drama The Blacklist, which aired on February 1, 2015 after NBC concluded coverage of Super Bowl XLIX. It is the first part of a two-part episode which concluded on February 5, 2015.

<i>The Blacklist</i> season 3 Season of television series

The third season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on NBC on October 1, 2015 and concluded on May 19, 2016. The season consisted of 23 episodes. The season was produced by Davis Entertainment, Universal Television, and Sony Pictures Television, and the executive producers were Jon Bokenkamp, John Davis, John Eisendrath, John Fox, and Joe Carnahan.

"General Ludd" is the eighth episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on November 11, 2013.

"Anslo Garrick Conclusion" is the tenth episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on December 2, 2013.

"Mako Tanida" is the sixteenth episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on March 17, 2014.

"Milton Bobbit" is the eighteenth episode of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on March 31, 2014.

"Berlin Conclusion" is the twenty-second episode and season finale of the first season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on May 12, 2014.

"Dr. James Covington" is the third episode of the second season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on October 6, 2014.

"Tom Connolly" is the twenty-second episode and season finale of the second season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on May 14, 2015.

<i>The Blacklist</i> season 4 Season of television series

The fourth season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on NBC on September 22, 2016. The season was produced by Davis Entertainment, Universal Television and Sony Pictures Television, and the executive producers are Jon Bokenkamp, John Davis, John Eisendrath, John Fox, and Joe Carnahan. The season contained 22 episodes and concluded on May 18, 2017.

<i>The Blacklist</i> season 5 Season of television series

The fifth season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on NBC on September 27, 2017, with a timeslot change from Thursday at 10:00 PM to Wednesday at 8:00 PM. The season was produced by Davis Entertainment, Universal Television and Sony Pictures Television, and the executive producers are Jon Bokenkamp, John Davis, John Eisendrath, John Fox, and Joe Carnahan. The season contained 22 episodes and concluded on May 16, 2018. The season aired the series' 100th episode.

The sixth season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on NBC on Thursday, January 3, 2019 at 10:00 PM, followed by its time slot premiere on Friday, January 4 at 9:00 PM. The season contained 22 episodes and concluded on May 17 the same year. Early episode reviews noted that the sixth season was more serialized than previous ones, focusing more on the stories of its main characters and the emotional fallout of recent events.

The eighth season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on November 13, 2020 and ended on June 23, 2021.

<i>The Blacklist</i> season 9 Season of television series

The ninth season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on October 21, 2021, on NBC, and ended on May 27, 2022. The season consisted of 22 episodes.

<i>The Blacklist</i> season 10 Season of television series

The tenth and final season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist was ordered on February 22, 2022, and premiered on February 26, 2023, on NBC. The season concluded the series on July 13, 2023, with the final two episodes.

"Raymond Reddington" is the two-part series finale of the American crime drama television series The Blacklist. It is the 21st and 22nd episode of the tenth season and the 217th and 218th episode overall. The episodes aired on NBC on July 13, 2023, in a special two-hour time slot. The first part was written by Katie Bockes and Noah Schechter, while the second, subtitled "Good Night", was written by executive producer Lukas Reiter, who had been on the series since its premiere, and both parts were directed by long-time crew member Michael Caracciolo.

References

  1. Andreeva, Nellie (March 31, 2015). "'The Blacklist' Promoted Hisham Tawfiq To Series Regular For Season 3". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on April 1, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
  2. Andreeva, Nellie, Perski, Denise (May 27, 2022). "'The Blacklist': Amir Arison and Laura Sohn have exited as Aram Mojtabai and Alina Park". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 27, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Iannucci, Rebecca (October 7, 2022). "The Blacklist Casts Anya Banerjee as Meera Malik's Daughter". TVLine. Retrieved October 7, 2022.
  4. "The Blacklist Season 5 Finale Recap: Whose Bones Are in That Bag?". May 16, 2018. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
  5. "The Hyena (No. 200)". The Blacklist . Season 10. Episode 4. NBC.
  6. "TVLine Items: NBC Sets Elvis Tribute, Grace and Frankie Premiere and More". December 3, 2018.