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The finale for The Blacklist Season 8 is considered a disappointment amongst many fans. In the end, Red never confirmed his real identity. Even worse, Liz died without learning the truth. To have Liz’s story come to such an abrupt and unsatisfying ending was a letdown. Even viewers who didn’t love Liz were unhappy about the way she died. It seemed completely unfair for Liz to die without answers. Even if The Blacklist wanted to keep its cards close to the chest, there was a way for Liz to learn the truth without revealing it to the audience.

Megan Boone as Liz and James Spader as Red in The Blacklist. Liz and Red are talking on a park bench.
Megan Boone as Liz and James Spader as Red | Will Hart/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

Why did ‘The Blacklist’ kill off Liz?

Liz’s death in The Blacklist Season 8 finale does make some sense for the series. After 8 seasons, Liz’s quest to learn Red’s identity became a pretty tired storyline. What’s more, Megan Boone announced that she would be leaving the cast of The Blacklist in June 2021. Boone left to work on other projects, including launching her own production company.

In “Konets” Red tells Liz to kill him to solidify her taking over his criminal empire. Red writes Liz a letter about his true identity and instructs Dembe to give it to her after he is dead. However, Liz can’t kill Red. Instead, she is shot in the back by one of Townsend’s men and dies in Red’s arms.

Liz could have learned the truth before she died

Of course, many fans were angry that after eight seasons, they didn’t get a solid answer about Red’s identity. Others felt that one of the images shown during Liz’s death confirmed the Redarina theory. Still, others were more upset that Liz didn’t get the truth.

“I wasn’t expecting answers which is why I didn’t get myself hyped up for the episode. HOWEVER, LIZ DESERVED THE TRUTH WHY,” a fan lamented on Reddit. After eight years of searching for answers, Liz’s death without any clarity did seem completely unfair.

The secret of Red’s identity has been the central storyline of The Blacklist for eight seasons. Cinema Blend points out that The Blacklist didn’t have to reveal the truth to viewers, but they at least could have given Liz some closure.

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“It’s not altogether surprising – even if it is frustrating – that The Blacklist didn’t want to give away the big answer about Red to the viewers when the story is still going, but the show certainly could have let Liz find out before she died!” the outlet states.

“It could have been Red whispering it in her ear too quietly for viewers to hear, or Liz reading the letter that was conveniently positioned so viewers couldn’t see it, or even having Liz’s dying words as some variation ‘I know the truth.'”

Will Liz return in ‘The Blacklist’ Season 9?

Some fans aren’t convinced that Liz actually died in “Konets.” It’s not the craziest theory, considering many characters (including Liz) have “died” and come back to life. If Liz is alive, she could finally get the answers she deserves in The Blacklist Season 9.

However, it seems unlikely that the writers would go as far as to fake Liz’s death twice. Still, the letter or something else from the past could resurface to finally confirm the truth for fans.

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