The Blacklist is coming to an end at NBC. The drama series’ 10th season, which debuts this month, will be its last. Before wrapping its run, the show, starring James Spader, will hit a major milestone, with its 200th episode set to air March 19.
After a blockbuster debut and a meteoric early ratings run, The Blacklist has become a reliable utility player and performer for NBC, deployed in 10 different time slots over its 10 seasons.
The series, which underwent a major transition after Season 8 when both its female lead Megan Boone and creator Jon Bokenkamp departed, has been a strong delayed viewing/digital player, bringing in a premium upscale audience.
According to NBC, Season 9 reached 29.1M viewers, more than doubling its rating in the 18-49 demographic and its total audience in Live+35 vs. same-day data.
Additionally, The Blacklist has remained a major profit generator for lead studio Sony Pictures TV with strong international sales and a very lucrative Netflix streaming deal. NBCUniversal is sharing in revenues due to the company’s 50% stake in the show, which has given NBC an additional incentive to keep it on the air for so many seasons.
The Blacklist’s library on Netflix has been among the streamer’s top off-network titles, often appearing on Nielsen’s weekly Top 10 streaming ratings charts.
In Season 10, James Spader returns as Raymond Reddington, who must confront unparalleled danger. With Reddington’s covert role as an FBI informant facing exposure, former Blacklisters will unite against him in their lethal desire for revenge – testing Red and the FBI Task Force as never before. On Wednesday, NBC also released a first look at the final season, bidding farewell to the series. The video is embedded below.
“It isn’t often that a series resonates so deeply with an audience that it airs for 10 seasons, but The Blacklist proved to a perfect combination of highly talented producers, stellar writing, a cast that never failed to deliver and a crew that always rose to the occasion,” said Lisa Katz, President, Scripted Content, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “A huge thank you to our partners at Sony, everyone from the past decade who made this show an integral part of NBC’s storied history and, of course, a special nod to James Spader, whose performance remains nothing short of spectacular.”
The series also stars Diego Klattenhoff, Hisham Tawfiq, Anya Banerjee and Harry Lennix.
Spader executive producers alongside John Eisendrath, Jon Bokenkamp, John Davis and John Fox of Davis Entertainment, Lukas Reiter, Laura A. Benson, Daniel Cerone, Sean Hennen, Allison Glock-Cooper, and T Cooper.
The Blacklist is produced by Sony Pictures Television Studios and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.
“We thank our wonderful partners at NBC for a remarkable 10 seasons of The Blacklist, the series that introduced the world to Raymond Reddington, brilliantly portrayed by James Spader,” said Jason Clodfelter, Co-President, Sony Pictures Television Studios. “James has led a multi-talented and diverse cast that also featured legendary guest stars and hundreds of Blacklisters who made us all root for this anti-hero. We tip our Reddington hat to the dedicated production staff, hard-working crew and talented writers. The unpredictable plot twists have produced a legacy TV show that served to entertain a worldwide audience and as we enter the final season, we can’t wait for audiences to see how Raymond Reddington takes a final bow.”
“After 10 years, hundreds of Blacklist cases and more than 200 episodes produced, we’re honored to reach our conclusion,” Eisendrath said in a statement. “It’s been incredibly fun to create the strange, devious and delightful Blacklisters to challenge Raymond Reddington and our FBI Task Force each week. We would like to thank everyone at NBC and Sony, our extraordinary crew who make the impossible happen every day, our endlessly inventive writers and producers, and our remarkable cast who brought life to these characters. We appreciate our dedicated fanbase who came along for this wonderful ride and are excited to share this final season with them.”
Season 10 of The Blacklist premieres Feb. 26 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.