Raymond ReddingtonEdit
Portrayed by James Spader
Raymond "Red" Reddington is a former government agent, presumed to be a member of the United States Navy, and number 4 on the FBI's Most Wanted List.[2] A U.S. Naval Academy graduate, he once 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 which 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 was 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 went as far as to block her memories of the fire she was trapped in. But she finally regains them and learns that when her father attacked her mother, she killed him while still a child. 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 was revealed that Red used to be married to Naomi Hyland and has a daughter named Jennifer. In "Dr. Linus Creel", when he confronted Naomi about her, he discovers that Jennifer left her 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 did not believe that Reddington had the Fulcrum, a blackmail file which 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 began seeking the Fulcrum and managed to collect various items needed to decrypt it. Finally, after he confessed to Liz that he had initially hired Tom Keen to enter her life and watch over her, she gave him the Fulcrum, after which he was shot by the Director's agents. However, he survived. He continued to throw obstacles into Liz's path as she sought to find out more about her mother. When Liz was framed by the Cabal for the assassination of Senator Hawkins, Reddington countered by gathering 11 of the world's top investigative journalists and giving them the information contained in the Fulcrum. He later helped Liz go on the run after she assassinated 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 and Ressler places his FBI windbreaker around Red's shoulders and leads him over to the car with Dembe. As Ressler lets go of Red's arm and Red goes to get into the car he collapses and Dembe catches him saying: "I got you." And proceeded to help Red into the car. 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, that he realized 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 and 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's got 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 refused, 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 tried 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 decided 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.[3]
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 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 gets knocked over during the struggle. Liz shoots her father to protect her mother, but the Fulcrum is lost and believed to have been destroyed in the fire while Reddington dies of his wounds despite the best efforts of Katarina and Ilya. 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 was not in fact her mother but was 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 sometime, 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. Reddington's true identity was not revealed.[4][5][6][7][8]
Elizabeth KeenEdit
Portrayed by Megan Boone
Elizabeth Scott Keen 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 admitted to blocking her memories of the fire. 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 unraveled as she discovered evidence that he was not the man he appeared to be. After she found out he was an agent hired by Berlin to keep her under surveillance, she had the marriage annulled. She kept Tom imprisoned on an abandoned ship for several months, interrogating him. Eventually, she was forced to let him go in exchange for Berlin's location after he murdered a harbormaster, Eugene Ames.
Local police investigated Ames' murder and had enough evidence to arrest Liz for her involvement; but she was saved by the intervention of Reddington, Cooper, then-assistant AG Connolly, and Tom himself. She also learned that she was the key to unlocking the mysteries of the Fulcrum and that she had unknowingly had the Fulcrum itself in her possession since childhood. With the help of Leonard Caul, she deciphered the Fulcrum's contents and confronted the Director with them. She was then unknowingly infected with a customized biological weapon by the Cabal and tricked into infecting their target, Senator Hawkins. The Cabal then framed 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 sought 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 and 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 an abusive boyfriend of one of the hostages and nearly kills 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 Liz's 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 can prevent it and Ressler returns to transfer her to the courthouse. In "The Director: Conclusion", Liz spends the night in a cell protected by Ressler which 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 had to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter and would get three years' probation. Though she would be free, Liz could never return to the FBI. Liz reluctantly took the deal in the end as Red ensured she'd remain part of the task force as an asset like him. Liz was publicly exonerated by Laurel while Karakurt was 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 saw her mother, Katarina, putting a few toys and a ribbon bracelet in a coffee can be used as a time machine. 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 was only then Red reveals the truth in Kirk's plans to use Liz for a blood transfusion as 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 which claimed her to be his daughter, and briefly mistrusted 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 that leads to his arrest.
In "Dr. Adrian Shaw", Kirk is taken to the hospital, and believing she may be his only chance of rescuing him, goes through a DNA Test. If she is found to be a match, they will prepare her for surgery and do a blood transfusion. When Tom found out, he confronted Liz for the decision and admitted that he had met his mother, Susan, months earlier. Despite his warning not to get close to Kirk, Liz mentioned that she needs to help him as 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 had 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 gave 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 [Red] 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 as 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 that 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 anger, despair and love is part of a normal family. Liz also realizes that Red wanted her to grow more like an FBI profiler and embraces him.
In "Zarak Mosadek", while staking out at 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 Witness Protection Program by Garvey because of Red's past abuse with 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 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 which is approximately $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", she gets an offer from Reddington; he would give her a letter containing all the answers about his identity she was seeking for, but first she had to kill him and take his empire over. That was the time to kill Red and put an end to his mystery, but only then Liz understood, how much she needed him for her life. But she still wanted to know who Reddington is, thats why she accepted the offer? When she finally faced Red, she got killed by Vandyke and was left by him bleeding on the street before Ressler arrived.
In "Dr. Roberta Sand, PhD", Reddington was shocked as Agnes told him that Liz told her he is Russian. She couldnt find it out without a letter she never recieved. He checked the letter in case she opened it, and, after a positive fingerprint test, came to a conclusion she read the letter and died knowing everything about him. If she hadnt read it, she could have stayed alive.
Donald ResslerEdit
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 believed to be killed by Mako Tanida and 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 continue 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, wishing to assist him knowing trouble is on the horizon for both Red and Liz. In "Eli Matchett", Ressler refuses his help and warns Tom 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 going down 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.
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 utilizes 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, as it was the reason behind his killing the harbormaster on Elizabeth's boat. When Elizabeth nearly gets subpoenaed for the harbor master'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 help 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 her to give him his passports; in exchange, she convinces him to tell her the truth about his relationship with Reddington, then reveals 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 help 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 that 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 in 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 Mattais 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 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 agreed 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 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 led 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 found 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 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 MalikEdit
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.
Harold CooperEdit
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.
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 Copper 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.
Aram MojtabaiEdit
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.
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 ZumaEdit
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 relationships of Dembe and Red have become worth and worth throughout the season. In "The SPK", he arrested Robert Vesco, taking the opportunity to get Reds stolen 50 million dollars; In "Benjamin T. Okara", Reddington failed a meeting with Jovan Lović because of Dembes membrance as an agent; In "Dr. Roberta Sand, PhD", it is revealed that Dembe betrayed Red and gave the letter about his identity to Liz, making all their arrangements broken.
Alina ParkEdit
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.