When the series returns next month for its season 9 premiere, it will pick up two years after Keen's death, the network revealed Thursday.
Viewers will quickly see just how big an impact Keen's death had on the show's characters. The FBI task force dedicated to taking down the world's worst criminals will have disbanded, with many of them now living very different lives.
THE BLACKLIST -- "Godwin Page [#141]" Episode 820
With the enigmatic mastermind Raymond Reddington [James Spader] in the wind, the old team will find themselves drawn together by "a common purpose" to resume their original mission of taking "down dangerous, vicious, and eccentric Blacklisters," per a new season 9 logline. That will force the team to confront deadly foes, new conspiracies, shocking betrayals, and the testing of alliances, all "led by the most devious criminal of them all — Raymond Reddington."
Boone addressed her departure when the season 8 finale aired in June. "This experience, for me, has been an entire life inside of my own life," she wrote, sharing an early-season photo of her and Spader. "These eight years playing Liz Keen have helped me better define the world and myself, as she set out to do the same. Liz sought incorruptible familial bonds, and collided with powerful forces to reveal the boundaries where a cruel, indifferent world ended and she began."
She continued: "As her story ends I am grateful, most of all for the people I shared this time with: my fellow cast members present and past, our incredible crew who carried every single day for all involved, and those of you we entertained."
"I love this show with all of my heart and it's been an incredible journey," he said in a statement posted to Twitter, "but after eight years I feel it's time for me to step out of my comfort zone, try something new, and explore a few of the other characters and stories that have been crawling around in my head."
The Blacklist season 9 premieres Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.
-
S9 E11 Recap
The Blacklist recap: Agent Park gets the spotlight as her past is revealed
-
S9 E10 Recap
The Blacklist recap: new black market phone, who dis?
-
S9 E9 Recap
The Blacklist recap: The Raymond Reddington line of succession
-
THE BLACKLIST -- "Dr. Razmik Maier [#168]" Episode 908
S9 E8 Recap
The Blacklist recap: The good old days
-
S9 E7 Recap
The Blacklist recap: The ghosts of Donald Ressler
-
S9 E6 Recap
The Blacklist recap: The doctor will see you now
-
S9 E5 Recap
The Blacklist recap: What's in the box?
-
S9 E4 Recap
The Blacklist recap: The secret life of Harold Cooper
-
S8 E22 Recap
The Blacklist finale recap: A blessed life, a tragic end
-
S8 E21 Recap
The Blacklist recap: This is a man's world
-
THE BLACKLIST -- "Godwin Page [#141]" Episode 820
S8 E20 Recap
The Blacklist recap: This old song
-
S8 E19 Recap
The Blacklist recap: Reddington has no friends
-
S8 E18 Recap
The Blacklist recap: Save Elizabeth, save the world
-
S8 E17 Recap
The Blacklist recap: Lies, lies, and more lies
-
S8 E16 Recap
The Blacklist recap: Keep your spies close
-
S8 E15 Recap
The Blacklist recap: It's a good old-fashioned heist
-
S8 E14 Recap
The Blacklist recap: Mothers and daughters, daughters and mothers
-
S8 E13 Recap
The Blacklist recap: Take care, dummy
-
S8 E12 Recap
The Blacklist recap: How Reddington got his groove back
-
S8 E11 Recap
The Blacklist recap: The dads are fighting
-
S8 E10 Recap
The Blacklist recap: The brazen bull
-
S8 E9 Recap
The Blacklist recap: The enemy of my enemy is my friend
-
S8 E8 Recap
The Blacklist recap: The greater good
The Blacklist