The Blacklist Bosses Preview Katarina Rostova's Russian Interference in Season 7

The Blacklist Season 7 will start with Red Reddington (James Spader) where he always seems to find himself: in a predicament. In the Season 6 finale, he was taken captive by Katarina Rostova (Laila Robins), his former friend (and lover from back when he was still Ilya Koslov) who helped him take on Raymond Reddington's identity. And as Season 7 kicks off, we'll find out where she has him. Why she has him remains mysterious.

"Can't tell you where she has him, but she has him," creator and executive producer Jon Bokenkamp told TV Guide. "And that is a big reveal, right? This is a character who we have been teasing and have been talking about who was at the core of the mythology of the show. And I think that is going to make her probably the most formidable and dangerous blacklister to date. She has intimate knowledge of who Reddington is and knowledge of his past. And so what she wants and why she has grabbed him is the whole reason to tune in, and it's going to be a lot of fun."

Reddington has some information that the former KGB agent needs, but we don't know what that is or why she needs it. We do know that Rostova is willing to go to any length to get it, even though some part of her still feels some tenderness toward this man she used to know. "She's played by Laila Robins, who is a wonderful, wonderful actress," Bokenkamp said. "In some of these scenes she brings a real vulnerability that is sort of incredibly surprising, and is it great window into the relationship between her and Red and sort of their history. So it's a very unexpected and really great performance."

Rostova will stick around for a bit in Season 7, and will get perilously close to the daughter she was forced to abandon, Elizabeth Keen (Megan Boone). "She is going to be the main antagonist this year," said executive producer John Eisendrath. "And what's exciting is that that, I think, makes good on the promise that's sort of been baked into the series from the beginning, that at some point Liz would be part of a triangle between herself and Katarina and Reddington. It becomes the family drama that sort of has always been foreshadowed."

So why does Rostova have Red trussed up with a big tube draining blood from his carotid artery? Tune in to The Blacklist's Season 7 premiere Friday, Oct. 4 at 8/7c on NBC to find out!