The Blacklist, NBC’s breakout hit drama starring James Spader, has earned a second season, the network said this afternoon.
“The success of The Blacklist demonstrates that inspired storytelling is alive and well in broadcast television, and I’m impressed on a daily basis by this creative team’s imagination and the extent to which they will go to capture this grand vision on film,” Robert Greenblatt, Chairman, NBC Entertainment, said in a statement. “With gratitude to both our partners at Sony Pictures Television and our NBC development executives who took a great script and shepherded it into a great series, I hope that Red Reddington never runs out of names to bring down on his list!”
Jennifer Salke, President, NBC Entertainment, congratulated the team behind the show, which includes creator Jon Bokenkamp and producers John Eisendrath, John Davis, John Fox and Michael Watkins.
The Blacklist stars Spader as Red Reddington, a wanted criminal who decides to turn himself in and work with the FBI and CIA to stop criminals on his own blacklist for his own reasons. Megan Boone stars as FBI profiler Elizabeth Keene, who Red requests to work with. Each episode focuses on the capture of another criminal on the blacklist.
The show is the top rated new drama in the 18-49 demographic, mostly thanks to having The Voice as a lead-in each week. However, the show will not have The Voice in January when it returns from its midseason break.
Last night’s midseason finale drew a stunning 3.5 rating in the key demo and 12.26 million viewers, holding on to nearly all of The Voice’s numbers.
It should be noted that The Blacklist’s success mirrors last year’s Revolution, which also earned a second season after starting off strong Mondays after The Voice. That show has since moved to Wednesdays for its second season.
image: NBC