‘The Blacklist’ Star Megan Boone on the ‘Blurred’ Line Between Right & Wrong in Season 6
Preview
The truth is out there…but as NBC’s The Blacklist enters its sixth season of secrets, lies and misdirection, “it’s messier than we once thought,” says star Megan Boone, laughing.
See, Raymond “Red” Reddington (James Spader) — the international criminal and informant who supplies names of villains known as Blacklisters to FBI special agent Elizabeth Keen (Boone) — isn’t Reddington after all. The real one is dead, which also means this man isn’t her father, as he’s claimed.
When the two-part premiere opens (the second hour airs Friday at 9/8c), only Liz and her supposed sister, Jennifer Reddington (Fiona Dourif), know the depths of Red’s deception. Liz doesn’t want to share the new information with her colleagues at the bureau because, the actress says, the imposter “seems to have this innate ability to know everything that’s happening around him.”
The two women make a pact to uncover his real identity, whatever it takes. And for disillusioned Liz, “the line between what’s right and what’s wrong has become blurred,” Boone notes. “She now believes what’s morally correct can sometimes be sacrificed for the greater good. Her means to execute justice have definitely gotten darker and somewhat more desperate.”
The season’s first Blacklister fits snugly into the theme of falsity. He’s a surgeon infamous for drastically altering the looks of criminal elites (in this case, a dangerous killer for hire), raising the question — did Red avail himself of the doctor’s services?
The second episode brings a shocker: An NYPD beat cop arrests Red! And as Liz continues to work with him behind bars, she can’t entirely shed her affection for the brainy rogue who has always tried to protect her. “She knows he does a lot of good in the world,” Boone says. “She doesn’t want to get in the way of that.”
The Blacklist, Season Premiere, Thursday, January 3, 10/9c, NBC
