There’s still a very odd family dynamic happening here.
Those remains represent a secret that put Tom and Liz and Reddington in a very precarious place. In terms of the serialized story that we’re continuing to tell, the human remains that are in that old suitcase that was buried under a tree on a farm are very much the catalyst that push us forward in season five. Speaking more specifically to the suitcase you alluded to, which has skeletal remains, what can you tease about how that factors into season five? It did just feel like it was time to move on from that and that we had more story to tell that we needed to drive into. The show is still built around this core mythology and secrets, but at the same time, they’re able to set aside something that was a very important question and will change in ways who these people are, specifically Liz. Kaplan had dug up and that Red is trying to hide from Elizabeth represents a larger mystery. There is still the question of what does Raymond Reddington want? Why is he here? The suitcase that Mr. It felt like it was time to move on, I’ll be honest, and yet, at the same time, acknowledge that there’s a larger mystery at the center of the show. Why did it take until the season four finale for it to be fully resolved? Did you want to close that loop earlier? You touched on answering the paternity question, in regards to the Liz and Red relationship, as being a “weight lifted” on the show. RELATED: Lies, Spies & Secrets: A Look Inside 'The Blacklist' The destination he’s confident he’ll arrive at, but the journey, at the moment, he wants to relish and we as writers are having fun finding strange, weird places to put him in. Why not have as much fun getting there? The journey is everything. He knows that, at the end of the day, he’ll find his way back. Reddington is somebody who isn’t afraid of much. She gets to be on the inside of his empire, small as it may be, in a way she hasn’t before. There’s not really a divide between these two characters and that allows them to come together. She’s not all of a sudden going to let this new information completely unravel who she is or she hopes not to. It changes how Elizabeth Keen perceives herself, but at the same time, she’s a grown woman and she has a family. The biggest thing is that Reddington doesn’t feel like Liz is in grave danger at the moment, so the idea that this paternal issue is put to rest is a weight lifted from both him and the show, in a way. There’s been a question that’s been looming that is answered. Is Red’s shift in persona in part due to the confirmation that he is Liz’s father? Same character, different mindset and one that’s deliciously fun, still incredibly dangerous, still unexpected, but with a little more sense of whimsy and a little less dark and brooding. In the first episode, he’s tracking down a criminal for a bounty hunter and he's finding himself enjoying it. We know less about him now because we don’t know what he’s going to do next and we don’t know how he’s going to handle the situation. He’s the same character in some ways, he’s more like the character we met in the first season because he’s more enigmatic. He’s doing smaller cons that he was probably above before. He’s doing things that he hasn’t had to do in years. Jon Bokenkamp: The way to describe him is alive. RELATED: Ryan Eggold Talks Directorial Debut and Bittersweet Ride on ‘The Blacklist: Redemption’ĮT: How would you describe Raymond Reddington’s mindset in season five? Ahead of The Blacklist’s return on Wednesday, Bokenkamp talks to ET about what fans can expect in the fifth season, finally resolving the paternity question and what he’s planning for the 100th episode.