‘The Blacklist’ season 3 spoilers: ‘Susan Hargrave’ and a key James Spader story

Is the upcoming May 5 episode of “The Blacklist” entitled “Susan Hargrave” going to be the foundation for the proposed Tom Keen spin-off series? It’s understandable to think that way after looking at the details below:

“When Reddington (James Spader) links an elegant, powerful and extremely dangerous woman to the recent tragic events, the task force is forced to play a deadly cat and mouse game to stop her before she strikes again.”

Let’s dive in further now: While not much has been released about the spin-off concept as of yet, we do know that the female lead, played by Famke Janssen, is named Susan. However, in the casting announcement her last name was “Halsted,” and she went by the nickname of “Scottie.” It’s certainly possible that the writers changed the last name (sounds a little much like Jay Halstead from “Chicago PD,” no?), or this is all some sort of red herring designed to completely confuse us.

As of right now, this spin-off is set to star Ryan Eggold as Tom Keen, and will also feature prominently the Mr. Solomon character who we are starting to get to know.

Let’s get back for a minute here to “Susan Hargrave,” since regardless of what happens here, it certainly looks like it will be a nice showcase for James Spader as Reddington. Based on where we are right now in the season, we feel fairly strongly that many upcoming episodes are going to lean heavily on his performance and his backstory. Let’s just wait and see if this theory proves to be correct.

(Photo: NBC.)