The Blacklist season 5 spoilers: Will Liz Keen return to the Task Force?

After everything that happened on The Blacklist season 5 during the first half of the season, is Liz Keen done with the Task Force and her hyper-intense life forever? We cannot say that for sure; yet, we can say that she may be considering taking more of a low-key approach to her life in the immediate aftermath of losing Tom. She’s not interested in going back to the Task Force right away and putting her life on the line. She probably still has Tom’s death ringing in her head, and to go along with that there’s another clear issue present here: She’s a single mother now. We don’t think that it’s lost on her that if she dies her child is an orphan and that’s something she will likely be taking into consideration.

CarterMatt has already reported that the first episode back will be a little non-traditional, and maybe that means that we’ll focus on Liz off somewhere trying to find herself and figure out her future. Apparently, during her absence the Task Force is still going to continue with some of their goals, and that includes trying to continue their work with Reddington. Take a look at what executive producer John Eisendrath had to say on that subject to Entertainment Weekly:

“Liz has made Red promise her that, in her absence and in her time to reflect and deal with the aftermath of Tom’s death, that it would be one burden too many for her to have to bear the weight of her absence meaning that the Task Force was going to get shut down and bad guys weren’t going to be rounded up … So she’s made him promise to continue in her absence.”

If you didn’t see the video below from Megan Boone’s Instagram, we suggest that you check that out! It’s a tribute like no other to Ryan. Even though we already had a preview of what The Blacklist was like without Ryan last year, it feels different now. Last year there was still the chance that he could come back.

What do you want to see coming up for Liz on The Blacklist season 5 without Tom? Do you think it’s appropriate for her to take some time off? Share below!

(Photo: NBC.)