The Blacklist (2013)
Never trust a criminal... Until you have to.
Raymond "Red" Reddington, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, surrenders in person at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He claims that he and the FBI have the same interests: bringing down dangerous criminals and terrorists. In the last two decades, he's made a list of criminals and terrorists that matter the most but the FBI cannot find because it does not know they exist. Reddington calls this "The Blacklist". Reddington will co-operate, but insists that he will speak only to Elizabeth Keen, a rookie FBI profiler.
| Type | TV series |
|---|---|
| First aired | 23 September 2013 |
| Status | Ended, last episode 13 July 2023 |
| Genre | Drama, Crime, Mystery |
| Created by | Jon Bokenkamp |
| Starring | James Spader, Diego Klattenhoff and Hisham Tawfiq |
| Seasons | 10 seasons, 218 episodes |
| Episode length | about 42 min |
| Time to watch it all | about 153 hours |
| Rated | TV-14 |
| Scores | TMDB users 7.6/10 |
Where to watch The Blacklist
The Blacklist is streaming on Netflix ($17.99 a month) in the US. At ten hours a week, all of the series takes about 4 months of Netflix, or $71.96 at list price.
We check availability daily. Page last updated 12 October 2026. Prices are standard monthly plans and change often, so check with the service before you sign up.
What kind of watch this is
The Blacklist runs 42 minutes an episode across 10 seasons, totaling 153 hours of a criminal teaching the FBI how to catch other criminals. James Spader plays Raymond Reddington, who surrendered himself on the condition that he only talks to a rookie profiler, Elizabeth Keen. The hook is the format: Reddington hands over a name from his list, explains why that person is a threat, and then walks away. It is a mystery where the detective is the suspect, and the suspect is the most entertaining person in the room. You do not press play because you need the plot; you press play because Spader is too good to interrupt.
What the critics said
The early seasons earned praise. Critics liked the pilot, calling the plot original and the cast strong, particularly Spader. They often compared Reddington to Homeland’s Nicholas Brody. David Wiegand of the San Francisco Chronicle noted the pilot had "surprising, yet entirely credible, twists." By the third season, John Doyle of The Globe and Mail called the series "outstanding and inventing," arguing network drama wasn't dead yet. The tone shifted later. Brian Lowry panned the eighth season, arguing the long-running identity mystery lost its luster. The procedural format, he wrote, turned a hit into an afterthought.
How it did with audiences
On TMDB, users give it a 7.6 out of 10. That is a solid score. It suggests viewers found enough reason to keep coming back, even if they never quite agreed on why. The numbers are quiet, but steady.
If you liked this
TMDB's recommendations for people who watched The Blacklist.
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Sources
- The Blacklist on TMDB — synopsis, cast, ratings and recommendations
- Wikidata Q13148212 — review scores, box office and awards (CC0)
- “The Blacklist” on Wikipedia, by its contributors (history) — reception, audience figures and legacy, summarised and adapted here under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Where to watch and prices: Binge Boss, from TMDB watch-provider data (powered by JustWatch) and our own provider list
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