The favorable debut and enthusiastic reviews on "The Blacklist" had NBC renew and order a full season with 22 episodes for the new U.S. TV series starring James Spader and Megan Boone as characters Raymond "Red" Reddington and Elizabeth "Liz" Keen.

"The many layers of Red Reddington and his mysterious reasons for getting into bed with the FBI seem to be fascinating to fans of this show," Jennifer Salke, the NBC Entertainment president, declared in a statement. Ms Salke further added: "With great talent like James Spader and Megan Boone on board, as well our stellar executive producers and the whole cast and crew, we believe this outstanding series will continue to make NBC a big destination on Monday nights."

In "The Blacklist," award-winning actor James Spader portrays Raymond "Red" Reddington, one of most wanted fugitives of the FBI, who surrendered to the bureau and offered help in catching dangerous criminals and terrorists but with one condition: he will only speak with Elizabeth Keen. Actress Megan Boone portrays the character Elizabeth "Liz" Keen who recently joined the FBI as a rookie profiler.

"I think the show is going to throw in a lot of red herrings and make you believe certain things that aren't necessarily true. You never really know these people," Ms Boone teased. The actress further added: "But that's one of the themes of the show - a person's true identity is never fully exposed to the people around them. It takes peeling back the layers to really see someone's true self."

Megan Boone, 30, revealed as well that she was immediately drawn to the character of Elizabeth Keen after reading the script of "The Blacklist" so she agreed to portray the part. "I just knew it was something I needed to do and pursue - it just instantly piqued my interest and the character of Elisabeth was so interesting to me," Megan explained.

The actress further added in describing her character: "She's just a very purposely ambiguous woman and you don't really know much about her - which is an interesting thing for an actor. You get to have a lot of secrets."

As for other cast member James Spader, the 53-year-old actor will be having a very busy working schedule now that more episodes for "The Blacklist" will be put in production. Mr Spader will be juggling his production schedule between TV and film since he got cast as the titular menace in the upcoming "The Avengers: Age of Ultron" that will begin filming in 2014 in London.

RELATED STORIES
FBI London