‘The Blacklist’ Finale: Harry Lennix & Hisham Tawfiq Reflect on 10 Years on the Show & Clark Middleton
Q&A
NBC‘s The Blacklist is saying farewell after ten seasons, and longtime cast members Harry Lennix and Hisham Tawfiq are grateful to be able to see the series through to the end. (The actors portray Harold Cooper, head of the Task Force specifically responsible for hunting down the world’s most wanted criminals, and Dembe, right-hand man to the FBI’s most wanted James Spader‘s Red Reddington, turned FBI agent for the Task Force.)
During Season 10 of The Blacklist, the Task Force faced an unrelenting threat from the driven Congressman Hudson (Toby Leonard Moore) determined to uncover the source of its information. With Reddington’s covert role as an FBI informant facing exposure, he and the team must decide where their allegiances lie. Under pressure from Hudson’s investigation, the Task Force must try to anticipate Reddington’s next move in the upcoming series finale.
In the interview below, both Lennix and Tawfiq express their joy working on the show as well as talk about their characters’ arcs this season and which actors throughout its history impacted them after leaving.
Being a part of the show since the beginning, how does it feel to see it through to the end?
Hisham Tawfiq: Harry Lennix is a veteran here. I came on as kind of the newbie and wasn’t really scripted at the beginning of the show. So it was unexpected. It was definitely a blessing and humbling to go on this journey for the last 10 years. As I look around at my peers, no one else has been able to have that type of journey in the luxury of building on a character. [Laughs] So I definitely have a tremendous amount of gratitude for having this experience.
Harry Lennix: Gratitude is the word I would use, too. It’s rarified air to have 218 episodes of anything in the history of television [for the] decades that it’s been around. Hisham talks about how I’m the veteran now. But after 10 years, he’s a veteran, too! [Laughs] So yeah, it’s great. And I think that to be able to mature with a show, through so many important world events that were going on — presidents were elected, wars have been fought, pandemics have been gone through… So we were able, with the characters that we are playing, to experience life. And that’s really the great goal, I think, of any actor, is to be able to live an authentic experience outside of his or her own skin. And that’s what The Blacklist allowed us to do.
Will Hart/NBC
Does Dembe know the real identity of this so-called Raymond Reddington?
Hisham: I would say yes.
Will we really learn his identity this season?
Hisham: …I don’t know! [Laughs]
Fair enough! Are you familiar with the “Red is Trans” theory and that she’s Elizabeth Keen’s (Megan Boone) mother? Can you confirm or deny its validity?
Hisham: I think all conspiracies are valid, right? I mean, there have been hints of that, there have been hints of many things, so I can see why the fans think that. It’s something that’s been skirted around and avoided about, the identity. So I can see why people will become fascinated and attached to whatever theories they have about it.
Harry, you are under a lot of pressure in regard to this relentless Congressman (Hudson) digging into the Task Force. How does an honorable man like Harold feel about this morally questionable position he’s in?
Harry: Well, you know, one of the things about the show being on for so long is that we’ve seen congressmen deeply motivated or are intense about trying to get to the bottom line of what’s going on here with this relationship. The question is, how is this guy different? And he seems to be able to really marshal the forces behind him in terms of really digging into what this task force cost, who all have gotten involved in it. So it is a unique threat. There’s also the fact that Reddington is increasingly erratic. So it’s the timing of what Hudson is doing. Arthur Hudson is played by my dear friend, by the way, Toby. But that said, I think that Cooper is confident and a man of honor, at least from my perspective, and he’s going to be able to withstand the kind of scrutiny and questioning. The question is, well, does the circumstance allow this congressman to really put an end to us? So that’s what’s happening here. I’m not afraid of him. Cooper can handle whatever is thrown his way. So can Reddington.
Will Hart/NBC
Harry, how has the loss of Liz Keen affected Harold as well as yourself as an actor on the show?
Harry: Well, this loss of Liz Keen, of course, gives the opportunity, my wife and I on the show, played by Valerie Pettiford, to raise Agnes Keen (Sami Bray). And that is, of course, our biggest mandate, our greatest obligation, really. And obviously, losing Elizabeth Keen, such an important figure to the task force and to the show, and Megan Boone, is a hurtful and tragic incident. But life goes on through the child of Elizabeth Keen. And so, therefore, the cause continues to go on as well.
Has there been a recurring guest throughout the series who has left a similar impact after leaving the show?
Harry: Certainly, Clark Middleton was with us for so many years who played Glenn [Carter], the guy at the DMV, who is one of Red’s chief informants, got him all kinds of great information. He was one of us. We did a lot of episodes with him; we did a lot of public relations with him in places like Chicago and all over the place. But he was a great actor, a great character, a great writer, a great guy. And so I would say, losing him from the show and then losing him in real life was probably the most impactful for me.
Hisham: I think for me, it was Mr. Kaplan. You know, I had a lot of interactions with Susan [Blommaert], just because she was on the Reddington side. So I personally got to talk to her a lot. And the conversation with her — she was so completely different from her character; she was just a sweetheart. But then seeing her also go through almost that same journey that Dembe did, where she was now ostracized and put on another side and became the villain … I was kind of torn. That also was messing with me personally. Seeing her leave and the way she leaves had an impact on me personally and professionally because she was just a kind human being and a wonderful actress.
The Blacklist, Series Finale, Thursday, July 13, 8/7c, NBC
