This fall’s buzziest drama is NBC’s “The Blacklist.”
James Spader (“Boston Legal”) returns to prime time in his strangest role yet — a former government agent, Raymond “Red” Harrington, who is also on the FBI’s most-wanted list. In the dramatic premiere of “The Blacklist,” Harrington turns himself in to authorities.
He offers to help the agency catch a long-thought-dead terrorist, Ranko Zamani, under the condition that he speaks only to Elizabeth Keen, a neophyte FBI profiler fresh out of Quantico (played by actress Megan Boone).
What follows is a twisting series of events as the race to stop a terrorist begins. Red keeps everyone guessing about his true intentions (he seems to have no connection to Elizabeth, for instance).
Producers addressed the similarities between their show and the big-screen movie “The Silence of the Lambs” — which starred Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster — in a recent forum in LA. “There’s a big difference between the characters on our show and the characters of Hannibal and Clarice,” said executive producer John Eisendrath. “Red is not a psychopath. He is someone who is much more of an enigma. Very distinct from Hannibal Lecter, and I think the same is true for Elizabeth Keen.”
“There is a past between the two of them that she is not aware of, but he has an intimate knowledge of her past and her childhood,” Spader explained. “The relationship between [the characters] in the film you refer to, you know, is obsession, and it’s not based on any sort of reality at all.”
Among Spader’s co-stars are a handful of familiar faces. Harry Lennix (“Man of Steel”) plays FBI head honcho Harry Cooper. And Diego Klattenhoff — who was Damian Lewis’ romantic rival, Maj. Mike Faber, on “Homeland” — plays FBI agent Donald Ressler. To lure the nations Tweeters, producers cast Ryan Eggold of “90210” fame as Elizabeth’s husband Tom.
“The Blacklist” will focus on high-speed action while giving Spader enough room to make the rest of the cast feel constantly unsettled.