The Blacklist Redemption Cancelled By NBC

It appears that NBC’s spy-centric franchise spinoff The Blacklist: Redemption won’t get a chance to fulfill its subtitled billing. The series, an offshoot of the hit crime drama The Blacklist, has been cancelled by the Peacock Network after its one abbreviated 8-episode inaugural season completed its run last month.

The Blacklist: Redemption expanded the NBC television series into franchise status, kicking off with a backdoor pilot episode on the main show in the tail end of last year’s third season. The spinoff centers on The Blacklist’s Tom Keen (Ryan Eggold), who was introduced as a vicious assassin posing as a husband to unaware protagonist Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone) and has since made a heroic turnaround, making their marriage an honest one and caring for their infant daughter.

On Redemption, Tom falls into the service of corporation Halcyon Aegis, caught between feuding forces in Susan “Scottie” Hargrave (Famke Janssen) and her presumed dead husband Howard Hargrave (Terry O’Quinn), who – unbeknownst to Scottie – are Tom’s long-lost parents who are vying for control of the company. As Tom secretly infiltrates the company, Scottie puts him with her secret team of mercenaries consisting of his former enemies in hitters Matias Solomon (Edi Gathegi) and Nez Rowan (Tawny Cypress) and hacker Dumont (Adrian Martinez), carrying out benevolent secret missions, while still engaging in occasional shady practices.

The Blacklist: Redemption debuted as a Thursday primetime offering on February 23, yielding 4.256 million viewers. That number – modest as it may be – held steady by the end of its run after the April 13 season finale, averaging 4.042 million viewers. However, even though mothership show The Blacklist did manage to procure a renewal for Season 5, it appears that the performance of its spinoff series did not justify a second season order. Yet, with Deadline‘s confirmation of Ryan Eggold’s return to the fold on The Blacklist, the spinoff’s cliffhanger involving divided loyalties amongst Tom Keen’s team caused by his feuding, conniving parents can be resolved on the main show.

The Blacklist: Redemption never quite found its footing and, despite showcasing some promising cast chemistry, seemed to become mired in its puzzling subterfuge and secrets-centric storyline, as well as some genuinely uncomfortable Oedipal moments between Tom and (his unaware mother) Scottie that would even make Marty McFly flinch. Thus, its cancellation isn’t all that surprising.