

The season also introduces series antagonist Milos Kirchoff ( Peter Stormare), AKA Berlin, a former Russian KGB officer with a longstanding hatred of Reddington. This is the only season for Meera Malik ( Parminder Nagra), a CIA officer and member of the Task Force, who is killed in the season finale. The Reddington Task Force, led by Assistant Director Harold Cooper ( Harry Lennix), becomes the lead law enforcement agency responsible for capturing or killing the members of the Blacklist at Reddington's behest (usually to Red's benefit), which causes conflicts particularly for Special Agent Donald Ressler ( Diego Klattenhoff), who was originally tasked with capturing Reddington. He refuses to explain why Liz must be involved. Reddington surrenders to the FBI and offers to identify and help capture the criminals he has worked with, whom he calls "The Blacklist", but only if he is allowed to work with Liz Keen, a rookie profiler at the FBI. The first season introduces Raymond Reddington ( James Spader), Elizabeth "Liz" Keen ( Megan Boone) and the members of the Task Force, a multiagency law enforcement working group dedicated to hunting down Reddington. The season was produced by Davis Entertainment, Universal Television, and Sony Pictures Television, and the executive producers are Jon Bokenkamp, John Davis, John Eisendrath, John Fox, and Joe Carnahan. The first season of the American crime thriller television series The Blacklist premiered on NBC on September 23, 2013.
