After ten seasons, The Blacklist lastly got here to an finish on NBC on Thursday, July 13, and it was a tear-jerker of a collection finale. After the present closed out with a global manhunt, stars Harry Lennix and Hisham Tawfiq mirrored on their a few years as Harold Cooper and Dembe, respectively. The duo opened up about their time on the present and shedding their longtime co-star Megan Boone as Liz Eager.
When Megan Boone was introduced to be leaving The Blacklist, it was a query of how the collection would say goodbye to her beloved profiler. The choice to kill off Liz within the Season 8 finale undoubtedly modified the collection for good, and it was arduous to observe how everybody struggled with the aftermath. As a part of Harold Cooper’s activity drive, she introduced rather a lot to the group. Harry Lennix – who performed the assistant director of the FBI Counterterrorism Division – tells TV Insider simply how Liz’s loss of life affected each him as an actor and his character:
Properly, this lack of Liz Eager, in fact, offers the chance, my spouse and I on the present, performed by Valerie Pettiford, to lift Agnes Eager. And that’s, in fact, our greatest mandate, our best obligation, actually. And clearly, shedding Elizabeth Eager, such an essential determine to the duty drive and to the present, and Megan Boone, is a hurtful and tragic incident. However life goes on by the kid of Elizabeth Eager. And so, due to this fact, the trigger continues to go on as effectively.
The Blacklist has misplaced stars over time for various causes, and Megan Boone’s exit was undoubtedly arduous to get by, particularly because it known as for the storyline to make some dramatic modifications. When it was revealed that Harold and his spouse took in Liz’s daughter Agnes, it was each heartfelt and heartbreaking. Whereas Harry Lennix appears to have beloved the chance to do this storyline for Harold, it’s clear that Boone’s absence on the present was undoubtedly nonetheless felt.
That being stated, being on a present for its complete run when that run is for ten seasons is spectacular, and Harry Lennix and Hisham Tawfiq had been on the collection for the reason that starting. Nevertheless, followers will do not forget that Tawfiq’s Dembe Zuma wasn’t an enormous a part of the present for the primary two seasons, and due to that and extra, he’s calling his journey on the NBC drama a blessing:
Harry Lennix is a veteran right here. I got here on as sort of the beginner and wasn’t actually scripted in the beginning of the present. So it was surprising. It was undoubtedly a blessing and humbling to go on this journey for the final 10 years. As I go searching at my friends, nobody else has been capable of have that sort of journey within the luxurious of constructing on a personality. [Laughs] So, I undoubtedly have an amazing quantity of gratitude for having this expertise.
After Dembe rose to change into a key character, it’s clear Hisham Tawfiq is grateful for the lengthy trip that he had on The Blacklist. Going from recurring to collection common over ten seasons is spectacular. In fact, Harry Lennix was a collection common from the beginning, and he expressed his gratitude for the present, reflecting on how a lot modified for the reason that collection first premiered in 2013:
Gratitude is the phrase I’d use, too. It’s rarified air to have 218 episodes of something within the historical past of tv [for the] many years that it’s been round. Hisham talks about how I’m the veteran now. However after 10 years, he’s a veteran, too! [Laughs] So yeah, it’s nice. And I feel that to have the ability to mature with a present, by so many essential world occasions that had been happening — presidents had been elected, wars have been fought, pandemics have been gone by… So we had been ready, with the characters that we’re enjoying, to expertise life. And that’s actually the good objective, I feel, of any actor, is to have the ability to stay an genuine expertise outdoors of his or her personal pores and skin. And that’s what The Blacklist allowed us to do.
With over 200 episodes and ten seasons, The Blacklist took followers, characters, and the solid on a trip. It’s not stunning that Harry Lennix and Hisham Tawfiq are grateful for his or her alternative on the collection. James Spader revealed how he felt concerning the present’s ending, even saying that it “accomplished a circle.” Whereas it’ll be arduous to maneuver on from The Blacklist now that the present has ended, followers can all the time watch the previous few episodes of the ultimate season with a Peacock subscription or watch the primary 9 seasons with a Netflix subscription, as Season 10 will doubtless come to the streamer at a later date.
