The two-hour swan song of the James Spader-led drama airs July 13 on NBC.
Raymond Reddington has one last cat-and-mouse game up his sleeve. NBC's outgoing crime drama, The Blacklist, airs its two-hour series finale Thursday, and only ET exclusively premieres a sneak peek from Part 1.
In the wake of last week's episode, Reddington (James Spader) goes on the run after the Task Force is instructed to bring him in once and for all. In the clip from the first hour of the series' swan song, the final game of cat and mouse is officially on with Reddington vowing to stay one step ahead of the FBI.
But members of the Task Force -- facing its own demise -- are conflicted about hunting down Reddington, caught between their duty to the FBI and their personal relationships with the fugitive. As Dembe (Hisham Tawfiq) implores over a surprise phone call with Red in the clip, Reddington tells him his decision to "warn" him of impending danger "was foolhardy, short-sighted."
Reddington reminds Dembe that he "wiped his slate clean" by joining the FBI and warms him he's threatening his future by secretly helping him. "Don't go throwing away your future on my account," he says. When Dembe insists he's in the clear for giving him the heads up, Reddington tells Dembe there's powerful people who are waiting for him to make a wrong move to take him down.
"Don't do me any more favors," Reddington requests.
"I won't. I'm going to bring you in, Raymond," Dembe answers.
"That's the spirit," Reddington responds, almost not believing him.
"I'm serious," Dembe replies.
"I hope so... for your sake," Reddington says ominously.
NBC confirmed in February that season 10 would be The Blacklist's last.
"After 10 years, hundreds of Blacklist cases and more than 200 episodes produced, we're honored to reach our conclusion,” showrunner and executive producer John Eisendrath said at the time. "It's been incredibly fun to create the strange, devious and delightful Blacklisters to challenge Raymond Reddington and our FBI Task Force each week."
"We would like to thank everyone at NBC and Sony, our extraordinary crew who make the impossible happen every day, our endlessly inventive writers and producers, and our remarkable cast who brought life to these characters," his statement continued. "We appreciate our dedicated fanbase who came along for this wonderful ride and are excited to share this final season with them."
Diego Klattenhoff, Anya Banerjee and Harry Lennix also star in the series.
The two-part series finale of The Blacklist airs Thursday, July 13 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.
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