Interview with Jon Bokenkamp
āBlacklistā Hiatus: An Interview With Creator/Executive Producer Jon Bokenkamp (Part 1)
āThe Blacklistā is taking a short 2-week break as it gets ready for what promises to be an exciting final four episodes of season two. Among the highest rated shows on network TV, āThe Blacklistā has provided viewers with a combination of a serial crime drama along with a mystery, spy thriller.
Today and next Thursday, with no new recaps to fill your time, I am going to present parts 1 and 2 of my interview with the showās executive producer, Jon Bokenkamp. I hope you find lots of fun nuggets of information to satisfy your curiosity about āThe Blacklist.ā
Jason Evans: You left us on a cliffhanger last week, Jon, with Red shot and bleeding in the street. Now, we all know that Red cannot die ā I mean, you canāt kill Red or Liz, right? Ā ā but can you give us a hint of what happens next?
Jon Bokenkamp: Well, we open on a funeral as Red is being buried⦠No, just kidding. As far as what is coming next, we pick up immediately. We are in that moment ā Dembe and Liz are under fire, Red is bleeding, heās clearly been wounded in a horrible way. The next episode is energized and fast-paced. Itās not a typical episode where Red and Liz meet up and he gives her a case with this person that we donāt really know about. Instead, this time weāre playing catchup the entire episode, which is kinda fun. And, in terms of the last four episodes of the season, thereās this vacuum that has been created with Red being shot. Liz is going to have to step up and help resolve the situation.
JE: Oooh, I like that. The last time Redās life was really threatened, in the āAnslo Garrickā episodes, you and I spoke and you said Red would come out of it as a āman on fire.ā I love that description and we got that episode where he just hunted down everyone who had betrayed him. It was great! Are we going to see the vengeful Red again?
JB: I would not be surprised to see the vengeful Red again. Things are building to a crescendo here with Red and this business with the cabal run by David Strathairn. Weāre going to push all that forward.
JE: We got a hint of that angry and vengeful Red when he confronted Jasper last week. Red was at his best there.
JB: āRun like the prairie wind,ā was what Red told Jasper. Iāll tell you this, James Spader is shooting a scene today with the man who plays Jasper. So, you can guess what might happen there.
JE: You get such great guest stars; in recent episodes weāve seen Strathairn, Amanda Plummer, Ron Pearlman, and Lance Henrickson; whoās on your wish list of folks you would love to have on the show?
JB: Wow, great question. I have always loved Donald Sutherland. Maybe it is because of the movie āJFKā where his character represented the paranoid conspiracy theorist inside all of us [note- Sutherland played an unnamed character who reveals a wide ranging plot against Kennedy in the 1991 Oliver Stone movie]. I love Donald Sutherland. That scene ā a man sitting on a park bench in Washington DC with a fedora, that would fit pretty well into the landscape of our show. Ha! I need to think more about this question but I love unexpected and strange people. Like I love Steve Buscemi. I think somebody like that would be fantastic.
JE: Folks who bring a lot of character to the character. I get what you mean. Any hints of guest stars in the final few episodes coming up?
JB: Well, youāll certainly see more of David Strathairn. We will see Mr. Kaplan again. But thereās nobody else specific that we have lined up.
JE: Let me ask, how much do you think about the numbers for the Blacklisters? Tom Keen was #7, The Decembrist (Alan Alda) was #8. The highest number weāve seen was The Stewmaker, who was #161. How high do the number on Redās blacklist go and, most importantly, do you know who the top 5 are?
JB: Yes and no. I know a few who, in the mythology of the show, will end up in the top 5. But, to be quite candid ā Spader said this once ā Ā there are as many Blacklisters as there are episodes that NBC will let us do. Thereās no hidden algorithm or method to the Blacklist numbering. But, they are sort of weighted. The Stewmaker might be off a bit because that was one of the first few episodes we did and he might be higher if we were doing his episode today. We do think a bit about it and wonder, āwhere does this guy fit? How would Red rank him?ā So thatās how we come up with the numbers.
JE: I noticed that Vanessa Cruz, the subject of last weekās episode, was the highest number of the season thus far. I loved the way Mr. Kaplan recruited her onto Redās team at the end of the episode. Iām sure sheās going to play a role in things sometime soon, right?
JB: Well, we were just trying to find a different way to tell the stories. Most of the time the Blacklisters are either caught or they often end up dead. We just thought it would be fun for one to get away. And then we wanted to know, āWhat does Red get out of this?ā Knowing that heās always looking to expand his empire, we thought who better than a beautiful, brilliant framer to be in his pocket? Itās fun to think about his team ā Dembe, Mr. Kaplan, Brimley, and Glen at the DMVā¦
JB: Those characters are so much fun. And she seemed like somebody to add to his crew. We do have ideas about how we may bring her back, perhaps even this season, but nothing definite yet.
Well, thatās it for now. In part 2 of the interview, I ask Jon Bokenkamp about some of the lingering mysteries of the show ā like what Red pulled out of the back of that Presidential limo buried under the Kenyon Family house ā Ā and I ask if we will ever see Aram and Samar get together romantically. Check back here next Thursday evening to find the answers.
And, if you have an idea for a good question to ask the folks behind The Blacklist, post it in the comment section of send it to me on Twitter @TVFilmTalk. Iāll get the best ones in front of Jon Bokenkamp and we will see what he says!
See you in the comment sectionā¦
āBlacklistā Hiatus: An Interview With Creator/Executive Producer Jon Bokenkamp (Part 2)
Speakeasy is trying to help fans of āThe Blacklistā endure the 2 week break the show is taking ahead of its final four episodes by giving our readers a bit of exclusive info on the show. I spoke with the showās executive producer and creator, Jon Bokenkamp. You can read part 1 of that interview here, and the conclusion of their conversation begins below:
Jason Evans: I want to talk about some of the showās mysteries. In all the excitement over Liz finding the Fulcrum and the court case that brought Tom back, there are some mysteries that have cropped up briefly and have never been answered. I know you canāt give me definite answers, but can you tell me if we will revisit the mystery man Red located from Fitchās safe who disappeared in a pool of blood earlier this season? Is he gone?
Jon Bokenkamp: No, that person is not gone. That person⦠uhhhh⦠comes back in short order.
JE: I thought so. Another mystery that was left hanging ā what about the brief case that Red got out of the trunk of the limo under the Kenyon Family church? By the way, was that a Presidential limo?
JB: See, thatās what I love about the way you guys watch the show. It was a Presidential limo and there is a briefcase that is floating around out there that is not just a random, āOoh, this would be fun,ā kinda thing that will never pay off. We will pay it off. You might also remember some sort of key that was found in a bottle that may be of some significance. So, yes there are several of those little Easter eggs that are left out there that we will be bringing back together in these last four episodes.
JE: The key in the bottle was from the fifth episode of this season, āThe Front,ā right? They had all the bottles dangling from the trees and Red just went up to one and pulled a key out of it. It is amazing how much Red knows about everything!
JB: I know. He knows a lot (laughs)!
JE: A lot of people loved the backstory we got earlier this season about Redās right-hand man, Dembe. Are we going to get any more Dembe-centric episodes to give him a little more of a role? It feels like he spends a lot of time on screen but he rarely has more than one line.
JB: It is interesting, weāve talked about that a lot. Weāve talked a lot to Hisham Tawfiq, the actor who plays Dembe, about who he is, what his relationship is; heās clearly one of Redās most trusted confidants. Thereās nothing immediately this season that we are going to do but heās absolutely a character that we realize we could do more with in terms of the stories that we tell. You know, the first season was such the Tom and Liz show in terms of how tethered to that story we were. If we went off and told the story of another character it felt irresponsible in a way. Hopefully, in the second season weāve gotten to know these other people a little bit better. Between Samar and Cooper with his illness and Ressler with whatever demons he may be battling; weāve been getting to know the people of the show. That is something we are always striving to do better. It is such a plot driven show it sometimes feels like we have forgotten about these guys but we are definitely trying to expand that part of the canvas.
JE: Speaking of that, weāve been playing so much attention lately to Cooperās illness it feels like Samar and Aram and Resslerās stories have faded a bit. I have to ask, are Samar and Aram ever going to get together?
JB: (Laughs) What do I say to that? Maybe they have been together. Maybe they are hiding it or something. I can tell you that, at the moment, that is not a story that we are going to learn a whole lot more about immediately. I donāt have anything juicy to tell about them⦠sorry! But, believe me, it is the topic of a lot of conversations.
JE: Now that he has gotten his passports from Liz, has Tom fled? Iām sure heās going to come back, right?
JB: It is s storyline that I love and I know a lot of people feel very passionately about it. Certainly Tom will be playing a role in where things go from here. His relationship with Liz is not over.
And with that, our conversation was over, but we have been collecting many of the questions you have sent us and will be asking Jon for answers in coming weeks.