Megan Boone stopped appearing as Elizabeth Keen in The Blacklist after season 8 – here is why she left the show and what happened to her character.
Megan Boone was last seen as Elizabeth Keen in The Blacklist’s season 8 finale, leaving audiences curious whether she will return to the series. First appearing in The Blacklist’s pilot, Megan Boone’s Elizabeth Keen was among the series’ primary characters. Often referred to as Liz, Keen was portrayed as a talented FBI profiler whose storyline went through many significant changes as she started unraveling the mysteries of her past and its connections with criminal mastermind Raymond “Red” Reddington. As The Blacklist progressed and Liz got closer to understanding her adoptive father’s history, her characterization became more morally complex and multilayered.
As one of The Blacklist’s main characters, Megan Boone’s Elizabeth Keen plays a significant role in driving many primary storylines of the long-running series. Considering how she remains one of the front-runners of the show almost throughout eight seasons, it is not surprising that audiences may be curious about why Megan Boone departed from the series after sticking with it for so long. Therefore, here is a breakdown of why Megan Boone left The Blacklist and how her character, Elizabeth Keen, was gradually written off from the series.
Megan Boone Left The Blacklist For Other Opportunities
To pursue other opportunities, Megan Boone decided to leave The Blacklist long before the show was renewed for season 9. Her early heads-up allowed The Blacklist’s creators to meticulously craft her character’s final season 8 arc in such a way that it gave her a satisfying closure. The decision to write off Elizabeth Keen from The Blacklist was mutual between Megan Boone and the show’s creators, and the producers, NBC and Sony Pictures TV, also had no comments regarding these changes in the show’s overarching storyline. Following Megan Boone’s exit from The Blacklist, James Spader, Diego Klattenhoff, and Harry Lennix were the only original cast members that remained with the series.
Will Megan Boone Return To The Blacklist
Towards the end of her arc in The Blacklist, Megan Boone’s Elizabeth Keen turns into a fugitive. In The Blacklist season 8’s ending moments, she comes face to face with Red who asks her to kill him because he is anyway terminally ill. When she hesitates to shoot him, he tries coercing her by affirming that he will give her a letter from her mother. Unfortunately, while Liz struggles to pull the trigger, one of Neville’s henchmen shoots her in the back. As she falls into Red’s arms and bleeds to death, her storyline in The Blacklist reaches its conclusion, marking the end of Megan Boone’s tenure with the series.
Since Megan Boone’s character, Elizabeth Keen, dies in The Blacklist season 8’s ending moments, she cannot return to the series. However, considering how Megan Boone has her own production company called Weird Sister, she will continue working on new projects in the future. Meanwhile, as seen in The Blacklist’s seasons 9 and 10, her character Elizabeth Keen’s shocking death will continue impacting the storyline of other primary characters.
