Megan Boone Leaves ‘The Blacklist’ After 8 Seasons
Well, this is a bit of a shock, although, if you’ve been watching Season 8 of ‘The Blacklist‘, this news might make a little more sense. Co-lead Megan Boone, who plays Elizabeth Keen opposite James Spader’s Raymond Reddington, will be leaving the show at the end of the current season it has been revealed.
‘The Blacklist’, which was renewed for a 9th Season back in January, stars Spader as criminal mastermind Raymond “Red” Reddington and Boone as Elizabeth Keen, the FBI agent who is part of the Reddington task force, a group designed to take down Red’s “Blacklist” – individuals so dangerous and devious that the US government is unaware of their very existence.
Boone’s departure from the show has been planned since very early on in the season, and prior to the renewal, so the writers had a long time to craft a satisfying exit for the main character of Keen. That goes some way to explaining the current Season 8 plotline, which (SPOILER WARNING) sees Keen turn from FBI agent to criminal after she witnesses Red shoot her mother, which leads her to attempt to bring down his criminal empire, and trying to kill him in revenge. The Season 8 finale promises to answer one of the longstanding questions of the show – why Red came into Keen’s life in the first place.
Given the relationship between Keen and Reddington has been a central point of the story from the beginning, that would suggest the 9th Season will be something of a soft reset for the drama. However, the report from Deadline does say that Boone makes her “last appearance as a series regular” in the Season 8 finale, suggesting Keen could potentially pop back up at some point in the future.
Interestingly, a large section of Season 8 saw Keen go on the run, removing Boone from the show for eight episodes. Absences like that usually only happen when an actor is seriously ill or pregnant, but Boone’s disappearance was never explained off-screen. It does make me wonder if that was a trial run to see if the show could still work without Keen in the mix as the lead character. Whether that was the case or just a useful coincidence, it seems they decided it worked.
‘The Blacklist‘ Season 8 is currently airing on Sky One in the UK, and NBC in the USA.
