‘The Blacklist’ season 3: A pair of different (yet interesting) stories

For a significant period of time this summer, we had to go without there being a whole lot of news when it comes to “The Blacklist.” We are certainly glad that this break in the news is over and we are having quite a bit to discuss, starting first and foremost with the news on the show soundtrack: It’s coming to stores soon! You can find that on Amazon come August 21.

Now that we have said all of this, let’s transition over to what is one of the most interesting stories that we have heard today: In preparation for his series-regular role on season 3 of the show, actor Hisham Tawfiq (Dembe) is getting set to retire after twenty years with the New York Fire Department. There is an extended interview with him over at Entertainment Weekly; it’s a fascinating read, and he says that part of the reason for him leaving the job now is because he didn’t want to try to continue balancing all of the different parts of his life now:

“When Blacklist came … the way it’s worked has been kind of magical as far as being off when I needed to be off and being able to squeeze the hours in. It’s been exhausting. I didn’t want to go into the third season doing that, but knew there was no other way to do it. It was my passion so I made it work.”

One of the reasons Tawfiq made it work for so long was that he saved up on vacation days, and found a way to cram in the time when he was working with the department.

(Photo: NBC.)