Back for Redemption
Ryan Eggold is ready for more action in The Blacklist: Redemption. His character, Tom Keen, grew into a key part of mother ship The Blacklist.
Now Tom and Famke Janssen’s Susan “Scottie” Hargrave are front and centre in Redemption, two people with dark pasts who now are intent on righting wrongs, not committing them. But as The Blacklist viewers know, appearances can be deceiving in the complicated world of Keen, his wife and FBI profiler Liz (Megan Boone), and puppet master Raymond “Red” Reddington (James Spader).
Eggold chats about The Blacklist: Redemption:
Q Taking Tom to a lead character in Redemption must be a welcome change.
A Acting-wise, I feel like I’m almost drawn to supporting characters in a way. If it’s going to be the lead, I’m glad it’s this character because he’s so multi-faceted and almost contradictory. He’s a spy, and he’s an assassin and he’s a con man. And now he’s a husband, and a father, and an orphan, and trying to be a good father. And he’s learning how to good person after years of killing people in the middle of the jungle somewhere for some sum of money.
Q Why do supporting roles appeal to you?
A The hero is burdened with the responsibility of doing the right thing. The fun of this character is he was sort of an ancillary character who grew into himself, and we’re now doing this show around him.
Q Tom has embraced becoming a husband to Liz and dad to their baby, Agnes. How do you remain in their lives and on Blacklist as well as star in Redemption?
A In these first eight episodes, the goal is to launch a new story and a new world and a new cast of characters. That’s the focus. And then Tom’s relationship with Liz and Agnes becomes something we’ll deal with if we’re going to continue with more episodes. In the launching of the show, Liz gives him her blessing to pursue this mission and get at the truth of who he is, where he comes from, why he was orphaned, what really happened to him and led him to be where he is today.
Q Janssen’s Scottie looks very young to be Tom’s mother, and there are hints she regards him in definitely non-maternal ways. How is that to play?
A As an actor it’s very fun, because it’s so ambiguous and strange and awkward and uncomfortable — but also perhaps alluring. Then, of course, there’s the uncertainty that she is his mother. He’s been told that, and that’s the truth he’s going on. But you know that’s what The Blacklist does: The ground is always shifting beneath your feet.
Ryan Eggold and crew return for edgy spinoff