page_title: List of The Blacklist characters
section_title: Elizabeth Keen
hierarchical_section_title: List of The Blacklist characters / Main characters featured in The Blacklist / Elizabeth Keen
caption_attribution_description: Megan Boone (Elizabeth Keen)
context_page_description: The Blacklist is an American crime drama television series that premiered on NBC on September 23, 2013. Raymond "Red" Reddington, a former government agent turned high-profile criminal, who had eluded capture for decades, voluntarily surrenders to the FBI, offering to cooperate on capturing a list of criminals who are virtually impossible to catch. He insists on working with a rookie profiler by the name of Elizabeth Keen. The show also stars Diego Klattenhoff, Ryan Eggold and Harry Lennix. The pilot episode was written by Jon Bokenkamp and directed by Joe Carnahan. Executive producers for the series include Bokenkamp, John Eisendrath, and John Davis for Sony Pictures Television, Universal Television, and Davis Entertainment. In February 2015, The Blacklist was renewed for a third season, with Hisham Tawfiq promoted to main cast.
context_section_description: Portrayed by Megan Boone
  Elizabeth Scott Keen is an FBI profiler. According to Reddington and the FBI, her birth name is Masha Rostova, and she was born in Moscow to Katarina Rostova, a Russian intelligence agent whom everyone regards as a "myth". Elizabeth has a mysterious and traumatic past: her wrist bears a large scar from a fire she was trapped in as a child, and her only memory of her biological father is of him rescuing her from the fire. Reddington admitted to blocking her memories of the fire. She eventually regains her memory of the event when she killed her father to protect her mother. Reddington had been trying to protect her from the knowledge when he blocked her memories.
  She is the only person with whom Reddington is willing to work. She has yet to learn why, but he has told her that it has something to do with her missing father. While her adoptive father lay dying in the hospital, he insists to Red that Liz "deserves to know", but his death is hastened by Red to prevent Liz from "knowing". She develops a bond with Reddington as they continue to work together. The Director indicates there is a close personal connection between Liz and Red, but refuses to tell her what it is. Her once-idyllic marriage to Tom Keen unraveled as she discovered evidence that he was not the man he appeared to be. After she found out he was an agent hired by Berlin to keep her under surveillance, she had the marriage annulled. She kept Tom imprisoned on an abandoned ship for several months, interrogating him. Eventually, she was forced to let him go in exchange for Berlin's location after he murdered a harbormaster, Eugene Ames.
  Local police investigated Ames' murder and had enough evidence to arrest Liz for her involvement; but she was saved by the intervention of Reddington, Cooper, then-assistant AG Connolly, and Tom himself. She also learned that she was the key to unlocking the mysteries of the Fulcrum, and that she had unknowingly had the Fulcrum itself in her possession since childhood. With the help of Leonard Caul, she deciphered the Fulcrum's contents and confronted the Director with them. She was then unknowingly infected with a customized biological weapon by the Cabal and tricked into infecting their target, Senator Hawkins. The Cabal then framed her for Hawkins's assassination and for being a Russian spy. After shooting Tom Connolly upon learning of his involvement with the faking of Cooper's cancer and the Cabal's sinister intentions for the other agents on the task force, Elizabeth is now a fugitive on the FBI's Most Wanted List. To evade capture by the FBI, she sought asylum at the Russian embassy, identifying herself as "Masha Rostova" and pretending to be a Russian spy.
  In "Marvin Gerard", as Liz is being escorted to the airport, the convoy is attacked by Ressler and forcing Liz to run on foot. At a diner, she confronts Red for preventing her asylum until she learns he did this to save her life from being killed by the Cabal. While holding everyone in the diner hostage, Liz attacks an abusive boyfriend of one of the hostages' and nearly kills him until Red stops her. In "Eli Matchett", Liz comes to the realization that even if her name is cleared, it's impossible for her to go back to the life she once knew and must rely on Red to help her survive as a criminal. In "Arioch Cain", Liz and Red fake her death, after a bounty is put on Liz's head.
  In "Kings of the Highway", Liz tracks down Reddington after he is kidnapped and ransoms him using a valuable object that Dembe claims is needed to clear her name. While Liz and Dembe are making the exchange for Reddington, the FBI arrives, and Ressler arrests Liz.
  In "The Director", Liz is locked in the task force's cell as Ressler tries to protect her until she can testify. The Director and Laurel Hitchin attempt to prevent this by transferring Liz to an undisclosed location due to her supposedly having terrorist connections and then suffocating her when Aram changes the box's door code. Liz is nearly transferred, but the White House Counsel is able to prevent it and R
caption: Elizabeth Keen is portrayed by Megan Boone, since 2013
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