Cast members (front L-R) Diego Klattenhoff, James Spader, Megan Boone and (rear L-R) Ryan Eggold and Harry Lennix participate in a panel for "The Blacklist" during the NBC sessions at the Television Critics Association summer press tour
Cast members (front L-R) Diego Klattenhoff, James Spader, Megan Boone and (rear L-R) Ryan Eggold and Harry Lennix participate in a panel for "The Blacklist" during the NBC sessions at the Television Critics Association summer press tour in Beverly Hills, California July 27, 2013. Reuters/Phil McCarten

The season finale of “The Blacklist” for this fall was very different from which many of its viewers expected. There were no cliffhangers and it has substantially wrapped up a lot of unanswered questions particularly those dealing with the saga of Alexander Kirk (Ulrich Thomsen). It also answers a key question as to Liz Keen’s (Megan Boone) paternity issue with Red (James Spader). While that was mostly satisfying, a lot are wondering where the show could be headed up next.

The show will be returning on January 5, 2017. While that is an incredible length of time to wait between episodes, it looks like NBC is cooking up something big. Had it continued all throughout November and December, it would be interrupted with a lot of hiatuses for holidays anyway.

There has been no news yet as to what to expect when the show returns. Some fans, however, would be expecting a new arc based on the conclusiveness of “Dr. Adrian Shaw: Conclusion” and the show’s trend to jam two or three arcs into one season. It is expected that one batch of episodes would air from January to February which would again be followed by a break then another set of episodes.

The Wall Street Journal shows some very notable plot points about the fall finale. First is that Dr. Adrian Shaw and her research appear to point out to something fishy. It is noticeable that although she is the episode’s titular character, she was barely in the episode at all. It even gets more interesting as she is counted amongst the cast members who did not get caught by the FBI or get killed. This only means that the entire season so far has been about the pursuit of Alexander Kirk. Other plotlines worth looking at as reported are Mr. Kaplan’s story, Tom Keen’s (Ryan Eggold) suspicious behaviour, and a lot more.

While a lot could be expected, there has not been any confirmation yet if the show will be coming back for a fifth season. Fans, however, appear confident that it will return for a fifth season since NBC has been doing great with it.