'The Blacklist' Can Probably Go on as Long as Showrunners Want It To

There are some shows that have the possibility of running for pretty much forever. Due to a combination of consistently great producers, top level talent, combined with the "name" or "reputation" of a show and/or it coming out at the right place and the right time, there's a good chance that a popular series can see multiple seasons without fear of cancelation.

But is The Blacklist one of those shows that will ride off into the sunset on its own terms? Or is it ending in 2021?

The Blacklist will get another batch of episodes for its ninth season that'll carry on into 2022. The decision to green light a new season was probably an easy one for NBC. As per TV Series Finale, Season 8 "reached nearly 39 million viewers across linear and digital platforms ..." with around 1.2 million live viewers per episode.

The series has consistently been getting great ratings, not to mention the tons of viewers who check the show out on streaming services. In fact, Netflix paid a record-breaking amount for the show, about $2 million an episode, which speaks to the immense popularity of the series and its far-reaching viewer base.

But all good things must come to an end, and sometimes showrunners will decide to have a series go out on top and move on to another project instead of just playing it out until they "jump the shark," so to speak. But will that be the case with Season 9?

According to president of Sony Pictures TV Studios, Jeff Frost, that won't be the case. In an interview with Deadline, he seemed confident in keeping both The Goldbergs and The Blacklist on the air for a very long time.

"Our hope is that both series would continue … There has been no conversation about it being the final season for (The Goldbergs or The Blacklist). We haven’t gone into this being the final season; our hope is that there will be many more seasons of both shows," Frost said.

However, some fans of the show doubt if there's really that much more story to tell given the fact that many high ranking members of "The Blacklist" have been revealed.

Will showrunners just take the series in another direction? It's entirely possible. They've managed to keep viewers engaged for this long, so it isn't crazy to imagine that they can come up with more than a few new plot points and storylines to carry everyone over into Season 10 and beyond.

And just judging from social media reactions and discussions around the series, it appears that tons of folks are still talking about The Blacklist, so maybe Frost will get his wish after all and there will be tons of more seasons to come of the popular NBC series.