NBC's 'Blacklist' spinoff takes off in new directions

NBC is keen on a “Blacklist” spinoff, and a Keen happens to be a major part of it.

With its roots established on the parent series — through developments involving Tom Keen, played by Ryan Eggold, as well as characters portrayed by Famke Janssen, Edi Gathegi and Tawny Cypress — “The Blacklist: Redemption” premieres Thursday, Feb. 23, making Tom a member of a rogue group skirting government boundaries in trying to make up for past misdeeds, but also for the greater good.

With “Blacklist” executive producers Jon Bokenkamp, John Eisendrath, Lukas Reiter and J.R. Orci as its creators, “Redemption” still pits Keen against assassin Matias Solomon (Gathegi), though both are under the command of Susan “Scottie” Hargrave (Janssen) ... who is Keen's long-estranged mother.

Involving James Spader's Raymond “Red” Reddington as usual, the “Blacklist” episode that immediately precedes “Redemption” is designed to feed directly into the new show.

However, Eisendrath says, “I think ‘Redemption' stands on its own. ‘Redemption' is a world that is independent of ‘The Blacklist,' and particularly in these first eight episodes, we feel that it's very important to establish that world and to establish the dynamics of these characters. Then, if we are lucky enough to have more episodes beyond these eight, I do think there's a real opportunity to find ways that Red's character can interact ... I think that's to be determined.”

So is the balance between Keen's new world and the one he has with “The Blacklist's” Liz Keen (Megan Boone) and their daughter Agnes. “He has a baby girl with this woman,” Eggold notes, “and they have a relationship. And I think that's especially important for Tom Keen, because he never had a family. He never had intimate relationships. He was a guy who was orphaned and trained to be good at killing people and manipulating people and being a spy. So I think this love with Liz is important to him.”

Sure to be a related factor is Keen's connection to Scottie. “I think she's a very complicated woman with many different layers,” reasons Janssen, whose screen resume runs from “X-Men” heroism to “GoldenEye” villainy. “I think the main driving force behind Scottie is that she lost her son at a very young age, and it informs every part of her being.”

Bokenkamp describes the original “Blacklist” as “quite dark and very serious and moody.”

“This show, I think, really is a lot more sexy and fun,” he says of the sequel, “... We want it to be a big, explosive, wild ride.”