What Happened to ‘The Blacklist’s Tom Keen Spinoff? – Armessa Movie News

As a fan-favorite character from the long-running TV show The Blacklist, Tom Keen (Ryan Eggold) starring in his own spinoff show seems like a great idea on paper. From a missing boy to a ruthless assassin to a stay-at-home dad, what’s not to love about Tom? Unfortunately, Tom’s spinoff, The Blacklist: Redemption only managed to air for one season before being canceled. The eight episodes aired on NBC in 2017 during The Blacklist‘s hiatus from February to April in the midst of Season 4 — between episodes 15 and 16. Loyal fans tuned in to discover this elusive character’s backstory but turns out, his backstory is just as elusive as he is. Shrouded in secrecy and duplicitous motives, Redemption was unable to flesh out a cohesive backstory for Tom throughout its short run in 2017, ultimately leading to the show’s cancelation.

What Is ‘The Blacklist: Redemption’ About?

Tom is introduced as Elizabeth Keen’s (Megan Boone) sketchy husband in the very first episode of The Blacklist, and in later seasons we learn about his connection (or rather employment) to the enigmatic leader of a criminal empire, Raymond Reddington (James Spader). In Season 4, Episode 13, “Annabelle Stone,” Tom finds out his father “died” in a plane crash, fueling his prior questions about his family, and thus decides to embark on a flight to New York and join his mother in a special operatives group.

In Redemption, Tom finds out his dad, Howard Hargrave (Terry O’Quinn), is very much not dead and is also feuding with Susan “Scottie” Hargrave (Famke Janssen), who is also Tom’s mother, unbeknownst to her. Becoming his father’s double agent, Tom joins his mother’s corporation, Halcyon Aegis, alongside notorious criminals from Reddington’s blacklist, Soloman (Edi Gathegi) and Nez Rowan (Tawny Cypress). Tom returns to his old ways as an undercover operative agent, engaging in unsavory missions and boasting a carefully curated poker face at all times. By the end of the season, everyone’s agendas seem even more convoluted and hazy, concluding with Tom’s phone to Elizabeth as he decides to return home leading to the beginning of Season 5 of The Blacklist.

Why Was ‘The Blacklist: Redemption’ Cancelled?

Only managing to garner an average of 6.3 million viewers and a low 1.2 rating throughout its run according to The Hollywood Reporter, Redemption paled significantly compared to the flagship show. With only these measly numbers to back it up, and because it was one of the few NBC shows produced in an outside studio, Sony Pictures Television, the pitch for a renewal utterly failed, leading to the cancelation of the spinoff. With its soft launch filling in the time slot The Blacklist was aired in, coupled with a complete change in genre and storytelling, it is easy to see where the show went wrong. During the Television Critic Association’s press tour in 2017, executive producer John Eisendrath described Redemption as an “espionage thriller,” further commenting: “It makes it a completely different animal. The stories we tell are different. The way they go about catching the bad guys and doing their jobs, they can’t arrest anyone. It is an entirely different way of telling the story. It’s a spinoff, yes, but it has its own very specific way of telling its stories.”

However, it seems the spinoff was so caught up in this new “secret agendas and untrustworthy characters” based storytelling, that it failed to capture the story most fans tuned in to see in the first place. There was no place for a cohesive exploration of Tom’s backstory in the mystery-shrouded spinoff. In fact, fans on Reddit claimed to be even more confused about Keen’s childhood after watching. If anything, the show elaborates on the feud between his parents but never really explains their allegiances or choices. Tom’s spinoff is rarely about him and instead prioritizes the introduction of the spy thriller genre into The Blacklist universe, leaving us with more questions than we started with. It also didn’t help that prior to finding out Tom was her son, Scottie occasionally had strange Oedipal-like moments with him, adding a layer of discomfort to the viewing experience.

Changing the genre to spy thriller for the spinoff may have also been a questionable choice, particularly because the fanbase for the flagship show consists of police procedural fans. We love the instant gratification of each episode’s storyline resolving at the end, that is, the moment one of Reddington’s listed criminals is handcuffed. Not to mention, The Blacklist is the ultimate dad show, reveling in formulaic cases, family drama, and the eccentric performance delivered by Spader — Redemption only ticked one of those boxes. Although both cop dramas and spy thrillers have an element of mystery they are still worlds apart in atmosphere and storytelling. As such, jutting Tom into the world of espionage, the birthplace of patience and mental gymnastics, did a disservice to his character. His nuanced and complex character stood out in The Blacklist, but in Redemption he was just another spy.

Could ‘The Blacklist: Redemption’ Return With Future Seasons?

With all its flaws taken into account, Redemption‘s wrinkles could have potentially been smoothed out with a couple of extra seasons. As The Blacklist‘s team got more comfortable within the spy thriller genre, constructing a more coherent narrative that deliberately unravels Tom’s origin story would have been more successful. It was originally designed to have more seasons, explaining why it never really found its footing in the first.

However, it is highly unlikely that Redemption will return for future seasons. After the season concluded with a cliffhanger and was subsequently canceled, Eggold returned to The Blacklist Season 5 to reprise his role as Tom — but he wasn’t around for long, dying at the hands of Ian Garvey (Jonny Coyne) in Season 5, Episode 8, and dashing any hope for the renewal of Redemption. To hammer another nail in the coffin, The Blacklist also aired its final tenth season, making the likelihood of Redemption returning pretty much null. Despite the show’s stellar cast and tantalizing chemistry, fans of Tom Keen will likely never learn about his mysterious past, leaving Redemption with no hope of redeeming itself.

The Blacklist: Redemption is currently available to rent or purchase on Prime Video in the U.S.

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