Tom Keen is back on the case, and this time he’s working for the woman who raised him. The Blacklist: Redemption ran for one season on NBC, and it plays like a smaller, more intimate cousin of the show that spawned it.
Ryan Eggold stars as Keen, a covert operative who joins forces with Susan “Scottie” Hargrave, played by Famke Janssen. She runs Halcyon Aegis, a private military company that solves problems the government won’t touch. The show is a spin-off of The Blacklist, and Eggold’s return to that series after this one made sense for both shows.
The Case That Started It
The premise is simple. Keen investigates cases alongside his mother, and discovers his father, Howard, is alive. That discovery sets off a chain of revelations about his past and the rivalry between Susan and Howard. It forces Keen to pick a side.
The show leans heavily on that family drama, and it works better than the action sequences do. The espionage stuff is competent but routine, the kind of chase-and-shoot that fills space without leaving much of an impression.
The Cast Around Them
Edi Gathegi plays Matias Solomon, Tawny Cypress plays Nez Rowan, and Adrian Martinez appears as the hacker Dumont. These characters fill out the Halcyon team, and the show uses them to give Keen different perspectives on his mother’s work.
Terry O’Quinn shows up as Howard Hargrave, Tom’s father, in a recurring role. Theodora Miranne plays Kat Carlson, and Dan Amboyer plays Daniel / “Trevor.” Boone and Harry Lennix return as Elizabeth Keen and Harold Cooper, respectively.
The showrunners said it was unlikely James Spader would reprise his role as Raymond Reddington from the original series. He could appear later, though.
Why It Fell Short
The show never quite finds its footing. It borrows the tone and the procedural structure of The Blacklist, but it doesn’t have the same scale or the same stakes. The result is a show that feels thin next to the original.
The first season ran eight episodes, from February 23 to April 13, 2017. NBC cancelled it after one season on May 12, 2017, citing low ratings. That timing tells you everything you need to know about how the network viewed it.
Comparing the Two Shows
| Show | Network | Setting | Lead | Mother |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Blacklist | NBC | FBI headquarters | James Spader | Megan Boone |
| The Blacklist: Redemption | NBC | Halcyon Aegis | Ryan Eggold | Famke Janssen |
The comparison is stark. The original is a sprawling conspiracy thriller with global reach. This one is a contained drama about a son and a mother who run a private army. The contrast is the whole point, but it also explains why the spin-off couldn’t hold its own.
What Works
The relationship between Keen and his mother carries the show. Janssen plays Scottie with a sharp intelligence and a cool ruthlessness, and Eggold matches her note for note. Their scenes together are the reason anyone watches beyond the first few episodes.
The show also benefits from the actors who previously appeared on The Blacklist. Gathegi, Cypress, and Martinez bring familiarity from their earlier roles, and the returning characters add weight to the world-building.
The Verdict
The Blacklist: Redemption is a modest, well-intentioned failure. It has a strong core in its central relationship and a solid supporting cast, but it never breaks free from the shadow of its predecessor. The show’s cancellation was inevitable, and it leaves behind a record of ambition that fell short of execution.
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