For ten thrilling seasons, we've watched Raymond "Red" Reddington charismatically go from the most wanted man in the world to a valuable FBI resource in NBC's The Blacklist. He's smart enough to weasel his way out of any situation ranging from life-threatening stakes to being the most intelligent person in the room. But as of Thursday, July 13, Red's story has officially come to an end. So how exactly does series star James Spader feel about hanging up Red's signature fedora?
Warning, spoilers ahead for the series finale of The Blacklist.
As the end of the series loomed, Red faced potentially his most trying challenge yet — running from the government who turned on him with the task force he literally helped create. In addition to starring in the series, Spader is an executive producer, so he was able to have a say in how the show closed Red's final chapter. Luckily, he feels confident in what they decided on.
"I was very, very glad we were able to end it exactly the way we wanted to end it," Spader told The Associated Press ahead of the two-hour finale. "It was deliberate, and we weren't taken by surprise in terms of when the ending was going to come. You'll see that the ending has conviction and we commit to it."
"I really felt like this was complete, and I loved how it really completed a circle, in a way," he continued. "It wasn't just an unbroken line from point A to point Z, but it was a circle of sorts."
So how does the series end? Red consistently stayed one step ahead of the government in the never-ending game of cat and mouse, but did we really think he would actually get away with everything and just walk off into the sunset? For a while there, it seemed like he would, evading his old comrades at the task force, and hiding out in Seville trying to contact his granddaughter. Ressler, Zuma and Cooper nearly have him caught after finding his hideout, but Red seemingly waltzes away unscathed. He's a colorful character, to say the least, and the finale episode's depiction really does justice to the character Spader inhabited for so many years.
