Whereas the series usually returns in January, or at the latest February, in 2020 the show is not returning until spring. Deadline revealed that The Blacklist will be returning in March 2020.
In its place in the January schedule, NBC will air a new series titled Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector, which will see a retired criminologist solving crimes alongside a young detective. This series will run for 10 episodes from Friday, January 10, when it will air in The Blacklist’s usual time slot at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT.
As we know The Blacklist Season 7 will return in March and Lincoln Rhyme will have 10 episodes, we have a rough idea of when Blacklist will return for Episode 11. The earliest that the show could return, provided that Lincoln Rhyme does not take any weeks off, is Friday, March 20, 2020, while the last possible March air date for the upcoming episode being March 27.
According to CinemaBlend, Season 7 has been “performing consistently from week to week without any significant dips” ratings-wise, so NBC may be wishing that some of that success will rub off on its new show.
However, the main reason for the extended hiatus seems to be that this would allow the back-half of The Blacklist Season 7 to run uninterrupted for 12 weeks, meaning that fans will not have to put up with the annoyance of their favorite show taking weeks off, as is the case for many network TV dramas and the cause of much frustration online among fandoms.
As for what fans have to look forward to when The Blacklist Season 7 does return, the show’s executive producer Jon Bokenkamp teased an episode focusing on FBI agent Donald Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff). Bokenkamp told TVLine: “[We’ve] not overlooked Ressler. It’s safe to say, Ressler might be sitting on a little secret of his own, and we’ll be digging that up in the back half of this season.”
The Blacklist Season 7 returns in March 2020.
