Warning: This story contains major spoilers from the season finale ofThe Blacklist.
Read at your own risk!
Elizabeth Keen is still alive.
Credit: NBC
Some fanssaw that coming, while others truly believed her dead.
Duuuun.EW turned to executive producers Jon Bokenkamp and John Eisendrath to get the scoop on that fake-out.
(Read our exclusive postmortem with Megan Boonehere.)
NBC
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Fans were outraged when Liz ended up in a body bag.
Why fake her death?
As a natural progression from that, it seemed like Liz would want to protect her child from Reddington.
Were you scared of fan reaction?
We not only accept the range of emotion, we embrace it, too.
That was nice to see.
Its surprising that Mr. Kaplan was able to pull this off without Red knowing.
BOKENKAMP:Its likeClue:Mr. Kaplan in the library with the candlestick.
How hurt will Red be in the wake of learning that Liz faked her death?
BOKENKAMP:Red is devastated.
Emotionally, Reddington is in a very tricky and precious place.
There is nothing worse than blatant rejection.
Can Liz trust Alexander Kirk?
BOKENKAMP:I dont know why we wouldnt believe him.
Reds said before that hes not Lizs father.
This man shows up in her life and says hes her father.
Liz should take him at his word.
She thought she shot her father.
It raises a number of questions, which is going to be the joy of season 4.
BOKENKAMP:Truth is, this is a big turn in the life of our series.
Why was Kirk so desperate to get his hands on Agnes and Liz?
Does part of Liz regret not finding out who Red is to her?
BOKENKAMP:Oh, that is still a big question to her.
Thats still something that she will want answers to.
He doesnt really lie to her, but hes also not always giving her all the information.
For reasons that are very important to both of them, he is protective of that.
You might accidentally on purpose not ask the questions, because you really dont want to know that.
Does Liz regret letting those on the Post Office team think shes dead?
Some will think that its a huge betrayal.
Will the spin-off see Tom trying to find out what happened to Liz?
Or is it time for them to go their separate ways as Tom discovers where he comes from?
BOKENKAMP:I think the What happened to Liz?
question and that entire storyline is veryBlacklistspecific.
So what does this meant for Tom then?
BOKENKAMP: Its incredibly complex.
And believe me, weve had long conversations like, How do they handle this?
Thatsnotwhat our audience is interested in, thatsnotwhat the show is.
The show is about turns, and surprises, and identity, and secrets.
We intend to have a lot of fun with the complexity of the situation that they are confronted with.
The Blacklistwill return in the fall on NBC.
In the meantime, read our exclusive postmortem with Megan Boonehere.
