A lot happened in the last few episodes of “The Blacklist”, leaving some fans scratching their heads trying to figure out what the producers might have planned next. There are currently various different possible directions for the plot to unfold in, and after season 3 introduced some harsh changes in the premise of the show, it looks like the next season is going to build on top of that and continue the new trends.
The protagonist, Liz Keen, recently went through a transitional period that shifted the focus of her character quite a bit. Fans will now have to adapt to her new personality for season 4, and the changes might even come in at a fast pace instead of being introduced gradually.
The plot twist with the apparent death of Liz took many by surprise, and even though the show was already known for such dramatic moments – and some were suspecting that Liz would come back – most were somewhat unprepared. Of course, the circumstances surrounding the show at the time made it a necessity to do a twist like this one, as otherwise the producers simply could not have continued filming the next episodes.
- Read More: the latest Season 5 news here
According to Jon Bokenkamp, creator of the show, the writers were already playing around with the idea of having Liz fake her death, and the pregnancy of the actress basically sealed the deal. They treated the news as a great opportunity to tell the story they were going after, and now they are going to implement the new circumstances in the new season in an interesting way.
Fans should prepare for a rather different tone in season 4, and from what we’ve been able to gather, it sounds like the show could actually be improved a lot. While the episodes will still follow a familiar weekly structure and will have separate storylines that are more or less individually contained, there will also be a strong focus on some important overarching plots. Perhaps more than the previous three seasons – which should say a lot to the more avid fans of the production.
Perhaps a bit worryingly to some fans, it also sounds like the new major plot lines will be getting progressively darker, continuing the trend that was already set in the last season of the show. “The Blacklist” has always been quite grim in some aspects and generally mysterious, but the hints that the producers are giving us at the moment make it sound like they are going to push that trend even further.
Some fans seem to think that this could harm the show’s future, but most of them are generally optimistic about season 4. The producers of “The Blacklist” have made it clear that they have a specific vision with this show, and they haven’t allowed it to be compromised so far. Even if things seem a bit weird at first, we’re sure that the main idea will become evident as the season progresses.
In a recent interview, Bokenkamp also addressed some criticism from the community with regards to the show’s structure. Some fans have been pointing out that “The Blacklist” has been moving away from its previous style of a procedural drama, but according to the showrunner, that’s still there – and as we pointed out above, the episodic nature of the story isn’t going to be taken away in season 4. However, he also admitted that the producers have now found more interesting ways to put together the different pieces of their storyline, which could be affecting people’s views.
Meanwhile, “The Blacklist: Redemption” is coming up and many fans of the original are just as excited for the spin-off as well. Of course, there is also a note of cautious skepticism among some, as it’s not rare for spin-off of popular shows to turn into a disaster.
So far, we have no indication that “Redemption” is headed in this direction – the opposite, actually – but it remains to be seen if the show will manage to live up to the expectations of its fans once it comes out.
According to Bokenkamp – from the same interview – the new show is designed in a way that it should appeal to two audiences at the same time. Both fans of “The Blacklist” as well as people new to the show should be able to enjoy the production, although likely for different reasons.
If this works out, we expect that there will be lots of new fans in the audience of “The Blacklist” sooner or later as well, and the coming months could turn out to be very interesting for those who’ve been following the production. Hopefully the showrunners aren’t going to let it go and will keep building on top of what they’ve already established, as “The Blacklist” still has a huge potential to be even more successful than it already is.