It’s no surprise that when The Blacklist premiered on NBC in 2013, it was a massive hit. The first reason was that James Spader was at the helm as career criminal Raymond “Red” Reddington, known as the Concierge of Crime. The story was also very intriguing. After running from authorities for decades and being at the top of the Most Wanted list, Reddington decides to willingly turn himself in. He offers his services to help the FBI take down the most awful criminals, and he delivers. But there’s an ulterior motive. They have to let him do his thing, and in taking down these thieves, criminals, and terrorists, they are inadvertently helping build Reddington’s own criminal enterprise in the process.

At the heart of the story was also Reddington’s interest in Elizabeth “Liz” Keen, a young agent to whom he had some type of prior relationship, but...