‘Blacklist’ producers: Tom will be part of original, sequel

PASADENA, Calif. – Tom Keen will remain part of “The Blacklist” as he steps into “The Blacklist: Redemption,” the spinoff’s producers said.

“He’s always going to be part of ‘The Blacklist’ family,” producer John Eisendrath said of the character played by Ryan Eggold in both NBC dramas.

The spinoff, which debuts Feb. 23 with eight episodes, stars Eggold and Famke Janssen as mercenaries who have joined with others trying to make amends for the havoc they’ve caused. Janssen plays Susan “Scottie” Hargrave, the group’s leader and Tom’s mother. He knows their relationship but she’s in the dark, believing her son is long dead.

While Tom is tugged away from his original “Blacklist” life with wife Elizabeth (Megan Boone) and baby Agnes, he loves his family and isn’t “going away lightly,” Eggold told a TV critics’ meeting Wednesday.

He’ll have three powerful women in his life now, Eisendrath said. Even at a year old, “Agnes is very strong,” the producer joked.

Janssen’s Scottie certainly is, and Janssen is willing to concede she’s “ruthless and unpredictable.” But she balked at labeling her a cold woman.

“She has this incredibly soft and broken side to her that’s so beautiful and relatable,” the actress said.

Janssen, an exceptionally youthful-looking 52, is playing mom to Eggold, who’s 32. With Scottie unaware of their relationship, there were hints in their previous “Blacklist” scenes of a possibly misplaced attraction on her side.

Will that be suggested in the sequel?

“It’s very PG” rated, Janssen said. “We’re on network television.”