Spoiler Alert! This article contains spoilers about the Season 8 finale Blacklist.
A few television shows are good at keeping us interested. Drama and mystery are our favorite things about television. We also love crime thrillers—the BlacklistKnows how to do it well.
Is Liz dead after all that happened in Season 8? Are you sure she will return? Here’s what we know.
Liz is still alive. ‘The Blacklist’What is the best way to get started?
You may have struggled to believe what had happened after you watched Season 8’s final episode. Longtime viewers were saddened to hear that Megan Boone, who plays Liz Keen, would be leaving the show, but they still weren’t ready.
In Season 8, the storyline between Raymond and Raymond was very popular with fans. “Red” Reddington (James Spader), Liz. Their interesting connection was immediate — with Liz being an FBI profiler and Red a former U.S. Navy officer turned high-profile criminal — while working together to solve complex cases.
They had been through a lot together in the eight seasons, though Liz wasn’t present for a portion of that final season. We hoped it was the start of more adventures when she returned, but sadly that wasn’t the case.
The finale of that season was upon us, and fans were on edge. Liz was in danger, and while it wasn’t the first time she had a tricky spot to get out of, it was the first time that the situation didn’t change before something terrible happened.
Surely, Liz couldn’t be dead. Red’s true identity and history were revealed to the public before Liz could open her letter. Even though Red appears to be her mom in Season 8, Liz does not read the letter Red promised her from her mother.
Liz’s been known to fake her death before, and fans were confident we would be privy to her return plan when the new season began.
Unfortunately, that’s not what happened. Season 9’s premiere made it clear that Liz was no more. She died at the hands of Vandyke (Lukas Hassel), having been shot in the back, and she’s not coming back.
Megan Boone’s departure was confirmed before the finale.
For fans who weren’t afraid of potentially getting spoiled before the new season, they already had an idea that Liz wasn’t coming back. Megan Boone announced that she was quitting the series before Season 8 was finished.
Deadline reported in June 2021 that Megan’s final episode on the show would be Season 8. Later, she confirmed the news via Instagram and thanked everyone for their support.
“This experience, for me, has been an entire life inside of my own life. These eight years playing Liz Keen have helped me better define the world and myself, as she set out to do the same,” She wrote. “Liz sought incorruptible familial bonds and collided with powerful forces to reveal the boundaries where a cruel, indifferent world ended, and she began.”
“As her story ends, I am grateful, most of all, for the people I shared this time with my fellow cast members present and past, our incredible crew who carried every single day for all involved, and those of you we entertained. These little dreams are my memories of guest stars passing through. There has been such an astounding abundance of you over my 150+ episodes that, ironically, I could not list you all here, but… What a list. This was truly a great experience. Thank you all.”
Watch new episodes. The Blacklist Thursday airs on NBC at 8 p.m. EST.