The Blacklist is an American crime thriller television series created by Jon Bokenkamp that premiered on NBC on September 23, 2013. The show follows Raymond "Red" Reddington (James Spader), an ex-US Naval Intelligence officer turned high-profile criminal and one of the FBI's Most Wanted fugitives who voluntarily surrenders to them after eluding capture for decades. He tells the FBI that he has a list of the most dangerous criminals in the world that he has compiled over the years called the "Blacklist", and that he is willing to inform on their operations in exchange for immunity from prosecution on condition he works exclusively with rookie FBI special agent and criminal profiler Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone), to whom he seemingly has no connection.