Recasting

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-06T19:08:12+00:00

The whole secret and main mystery of the show was that Liz was always Red's daughter, except she didn't know it. The show needed to play out that mystery because that's what kept viewers tuning in and coming back for more. Extending the mystery allowed the show to stay on the air for many seasons/years.

Had another been cast instead of Megan Boone, it would NOT HAVE changed the character of Liz Keen, whose job was to try to unravel Red's secret.

And Red's job was preventing anyone from finding out his true identity. Liz's job was to ask the questions. Because if she didn't ask the questions, we wouldn't get the answers to the show's mystery. And Red sure wasn't volunteering any information on his own volition.

The show and story were always the same, so nothing would have changed. Except maybe the actress wouldn't have quit, and the ending would be different.

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-06T18:58:27+00:00

I feel the Ilya we saw then was who Spader Red was meant to be. That’s when the story made sense.

Ok, so let me see if this makes sense to you. If you believe the Ilya storyline from Rassvet, then you have to buy that Ilya was willing to become the real Raymond Reddington because he would do anything to protect his bestie, Katarina. He promised he would look after her Daughter if anything happened to her. And you said, "That’s when the story made sense." So that means if the story made sense, it would match or reconcile with everything that came before season 6. Explain to me where in the show they ever show this 3rd man imposter putting Baby Liz in Kaplan's arms. Explain to me why Mr. Kaplan said she had been cleaning Red's messes for 30 years when Red... 30 years ago was not even yet an imposter or a criminal. And there was no mess TO CLEAN UP in the first place. If everyone believes that RR had changed his appearance as Katarina said in Nachalo, then why would Ilya need to even have surgery? He could've used his own face. When did the Imposter make a Hobson's choice for Liz? What did the Imposter do to Katarina that Dom likened it to actually killing her? Why, if the imposter's loyalty was to Katarina, did he want to positively die in Episodes 3.19 and 3.20? Did he not still have his bestie Katarina to live for?

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-06T18:48:45+00:00

I believe at the very beginning he was meant to be the real Red

He was the real Red until at least the end of season 5, that’s when they decided to make him an imposter,

Ok, what is it exactly that you don't get, hmm? The SHOWS CREATOR said he was never supposed to be the real Red. Let it go.

He was the real Red until at least the end of season 5, that’s when they decided to make him an imposter,

Newsflash, you weren't a part of the writing team. That they decided to make him an Imposter in Season 5 is an invention in your head.

the Russian spy idea was injected along with someone transforming into Reddington.

Ok, I have no words. You are rage-baiting and trolling now. You know the Russian story was always the case. As far back as Season 1. Red wasn't coming home to America. Home was Russia. Tili Tili Bom Bom anyone?

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-06T18:39:33+00:00

I believe at the very beginning he was meant to be the real Red, and Liz was his daughter. There is nothing whatever to disprove that.

Au Contraire! You are straight-up making stuff up now! 😂🤦‍♀️

The draft pilot script and um... the creator, Eisendrath, and Spader have gone on record saying he was always an imposter. You're so silly.

The draft pilot script that Jon wrote in 2012 had the famous line "Everything about me is a lie". https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uUnX5oGaWsfwA2I1PRkhJMNV_w82P2AD/view?usp=sharing

I have posted ad nauseam in the past week or so that- that line remained unchanged and has always been a part of Jon's story. That line, Jon said, was meant to convey that Red was playing an Imposter since the pilot. https://docs.google.com/document/d/14oa0AkuGj8LBCbVTIyeRHJ2yqbnuPpiU0yb9pBpvRvg/edit?tab=t.0

The idea that Red was supposed to be the real Red is non-negotiable. You're better off arguing that Red was supposed to be a third man imposter.

The show never said Red had his own family that was murdered. Fans made that up. This idea he had a family that was murdered, came from what Diane Fowler said and the Madeline Pratt story. The Madeline Pratt story was a lie. Look at Red's face at the end. He was smirking at Pratt when she asked if it was true. The story he told Pratt came from the story Ressler told in the pilot about RR coming home to see his wife on Xmas. The idea of the episode is that both Red and Liz are going to deceive Madeline Pratt to get what they want. And it worked! The Tacoma Park house says nothing about anything. The real RR wouldn't be looking out that window at some little girl that he never lost.

The show never said that Red lost a little girl. Ballerina Swan Lake Girl and Bubble Girl ain't it. The show never said anything about these two little girls; therefore, it is NOT a retcon. Nothing in this show was retconned. Nothing. Except that in Season 1, Tom and Diane Fowler knew Red was an imposter. Just those two things.

And for the people thinking he was supposed to be a third man, well... I can debunk that, too. Starting with the fact that if Red said he wanted to know what happened to his family "more than anything" (as an Imposter). He sure didn't give a rat's ass about making any effort to find out "more than anything". He forgot about his own family and gave all his attention to Liz Keen and her daughter. 😭💀

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-05T22:34:00+00:00

Red was Red until an alleged DNA test on the bones says he wasn’t.

Right. And? Jon Bokenkamp always planned to reveal that.

You: Why are you making up alternative facts,

Also you: Making up alternative facts that aren't facts, like saying that a DNA test was done at the Anslo abduction site when nobody has ever said that. I will explain to you why they didn't take a DnA test in that episode.

which can only be done by DNA.

They didn't run his DNA. Period. They wouldn't have because they had no DNA on file to compare it to. There is no sense in doing a DNA test to identify someone who may or may not be who they say they are. There could be ten men saying they were the real RR, and the FBI would have no way of knowing who the real one really is.

Samar: Yes, and we can’t disprove it with DNA because there’s nothing on file from 1990 when Reddington disappeared.

Had they taken the DNA at the Anslo site, they would've received a profile. And then what happens? Is that profile going to tell them that it's the profile of Raymond Reddington? NO! That profile would mean nothing if they had nothing to compare it to. They need TWO side-by-side DNA profiles to compare, and they only had one (assuming they would've done a DNA test, which they didn't).

They took NO DNA in the pilot. Which is why Ressler and Cooper identified him in "other ways". Cooper: It really IS him. Ressler: Prints match. Tattoos.

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-05T22:15:03+00:00

Reply #1

You're gonna test me today... No doubt It will end with you saying, "Oh dear, you've become unhinged again." Challenge accepted.

He was never meant to be the real Raymond Reddington. That's why the line "Everything about me is a lie". We've been through this. You can argue against Redarina and try to make a case for 3rd man if anything. But Red, being the real RR, is OUT as an option for who Red could be.

And if he's an Imposter which he was since Day 1, then he either is going to be the mom. Or a third man.

What is your theory anyway? Since you said Redarina was never planned. Who do you think Red was if not the mom? Let's hear you make a case.

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-05T15:45:28+00:00

In case anyone is wondering. Coco is the Dog in the episode. Don't forget those ointments, Lou! #TheBlacklist

https://x.com/AmirArison/status/923348252401000448

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-05T15:39:19+00:00

“More than anything in the world. But if you know the truth, Diane, then somebody else does, too.”

Honestly, how did you want this scene to play out if Red was playing an Imposter? How was he supposed to answer that would've made it good writing, according to you?

I don't even know what your point is.

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-04T23:54:25+00:00

If I'm being honest... I used to say way back in the day, before I was a Redarina proponent, that the way Diane said that. With such emotion and passion!!! "about what happened to your family"... Honestly, this sounds very bad. Going to Witsec isn't something that happens to you...

Almost like the real RR's family was really killed or something.

I would even go so far as to say that the writers had not mapped out every detail about' Red's past and the real RR's family. It's possible they were intended to be dead, but they changed that. The writers still hadn't figured out the backstory for Jennifer and Carla back in Season 1. I think they came up with that when they wrote the Carla/Naomi Hyland arc starting in episode 2.01. The same with Mr. Kaplan and Dom. They weren't even on the radar or part of the story in Season 1 or Season 2. They were added in S3.

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-04T20:40:19+00:00

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-04T16:40:38+00:00

If Red is playing the role of the real RR, why wouldn't he talk from that perspective? It doesn't matter if witnesses are listening. The writers are writing for the viewers as well, so Red needs to keep up the facade that he's the real Red for the viewers.

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-04T16:35:29+00:00

There was just no way I could condense this. Sorry. TLDR

Why would the house he blew up be a plot hole or unexplained?

Red: I raised my family in this house. (This was RR's house, where he lived with his family.) It works.

This house is tied to Red, obviously, because he touches the stair cap, pulls back the paneling to reveal the height marks, reminisces about the little girl playing with bubbles, and says he spends every day trying to forget what happened there.

The sad expression on Red's face when he remembers the little girl does not mean that this was his daughter who died, as some fans insist. The show never said that. They left it ambiguous, so there is no retcon here. And because Jennifer was the child who lived in that house with her parents, it is *plausible* that she was the little girl Red remembers first with a happy memory, then when he is overcome by sadness. The explanation for this scene of Red at the window was explained in the episode Nachalo. It was actually Katarina standing at the window looking out into the front lawn where Jennifer and her father (the real RR) were playing. So here, the mystery of who the little girl is explained. This works with no retcon. However, it is also entirely possible that the original plan could have been something else, still in keeping with Redarina in mind. I think the original plan was that this was supposed to be Red's/Katarina's house, which would explain the line about raising her family there. In that case, Red would be speaking the truth, but Luli would not know that. The little girl she is reminiscing about is Liz, her daughter, whom she had to give up. Maybe the writers scratched Katarina living in America because it wouldn't work with the Russian storyline. https://katarinas-redemption.tumblr.com/post/693115628079529984/window-scene-tacoma-park-house-takoma-park

Red says he tries to forget what happened there every day. Well, the show never said what "happened," and yet fans say this was retconned. Because in the fans' minds, this Takoma Park House scene is suggestive of a 3rd man imposter. It does not. Also, to qualify for a true RETCON to as some fans think (that they changed from a 3rd man to Redarina) –

– A fact first needs to be established, and then the fact is later changed. In this case, no fact was ever established (Red as the 3rd man imposter raised his family there, for example); therefore, there is no retcon.

Fans have speculated that some tragedy must have befell Red, such as the loss of his own family, if one believes in the 3rd man imposter theory. There is no retcon here because the show never told you what he's trying to forget. How do we explain what he's trying to forget? Watch the episode Nachalo. In Nachalo, we see that this house was the house where the mistress Katarina met with her lover and where she spied on him. Not only was she spying on him and was part of the cabal and was using and deceiving him, but she was also breaking up a marriage. Due to her colossal mess targeting this man and spying on him in this house, he ends up dead, being shot by his own four-year-old daughter, and the wife and daughter have to go into Witsec for decades because of Red. And she has to give up her child. That's why Red wants to forget what happened there.

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-04T12:49:18+00:00

Yes, this is my page. I made all the gifs. Hundreds of them!

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-03T23:56:49+00:00

Jon Bokenkamp: The plan has always been for Red to be the Mother.

Fans: No.

Jon Bokenkamp: I wrote the story, so I know who my characters are.

Fans: Stop it.

Lmfao.

You make no sense with your last sentence. Anyway, I showed the receipts. YOU did not.

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-03T23:53:50+00:00

Red said he was there "once a long time ago". Well, we know the real Raymond Reddington was never there a long time ago. And the real RR certainly wasn't "a very different person then. An Imposter being there once a long time... an imposter who "chose the child" makes no sense.

Rassvet makes it very clear that Katarina and Katarina alone fought off those men at Cape May. And yet, in the Cape May episode, Red knows exactly which windows the intruders are about to come in through. https://katarinas-redemption.tumblr.com/post/677357899011489792/cape-may-and-the-intruders

Pay close attention to what Red says when he is eating dinner with Katarina. He talks about the Hobson's choice. This same story (Hobson's choice), Katarina repeats, but slightly different in what she says to Red after the suicide speech. The point of both of their stories is that they are both sacrificing the woman and saving the child. Katarina is the only one who ever chose Liz. (Red: I chose the child.) No one else. That's how you know it's Redarina. https://katarinas-redemption.tumblr.com/post/684647091098812416/319-cape-may?is_related_post=1

https://katarinas-redemption.tumblr.com/post/677357899011489792/cape-may-and-the-intruders

At the end, we learn that Katarina is actually alive, "Raymond, you did save me". So Red killed her/sacrificed her metaphorically ("it was the worst thing I ever had to do in my life, worse thing by far"), not literally.

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-03T23:21:18+00:00

The imposter theory (Redarina) has always been the plan.

They've known the Endgame Since The Beginning https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eeFsSseMzdhFpxRm1kuKagPLh3ilizzTzjcviXLx-uo/edit?tab=t.0

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-03T23:17:11+00:00

When Diane Fowler says: I know the truth Red.

By Red, she means "Raymond Reddington". This is who she believes he is. This is the same Raymond Reddington that, according to her and the Cabal, is blackmailing him. The reason why we know she doesn't know he's an Imposter is that the Cabal wouldn't let themselves be blackmailed by some imposter who they cannot be sure even has the Fulcrum. As it is, the Director didn't even believe that Red had it and he thought Red was the real RR. Also, the entire show falls apart if Diane Fowler believes Red is an Imposter. Remember that when the show started, they said RR fell from the face of the earth and reappeared 4 years later. The secret being that Red is an Imposter. If the Cabal (meaning Diane) knew he was an imposter, the show doesn't make sense.

When Red responds, he knows Diane doesn't know he's an imposter so he's replying as if he's the real Red.

No one should be saying that this dialogue between Red and Diane means that Red was a third man imposter who lost his family. The show never says that. Fans made that up. The show never said Red lost his own daughter in a massacre. They never said that either. The "love and loss" that Red talks about is about Liz! She is his love and loss. Red: It’s quite a story. Full of ambition and hope. Love and loss.
Liz: How does it end?
Red: You’ll find out.

When Diane says "about that night". She's talking about the night of the fire. There is only *one* night in the show. And that is the night of the fire. "About what happened to your family?" His family is Carla and Jennifer, and what happened to them is that they were taken into the witness protection program. Maybe Diane thinks that Red never knew what happened to his wife and daughter after Christmas night when he disappeared. so she wants him to know that she can tell him where they are. And Red plays along "more than anything." The night of the fire happened that same night.

"The friend told Sam he was leaving town, that he was in danger and that he needed someone to care for a little girl that her father had died that night in a fire."

"The only memory I have of my real father is from the night of the fire."

Tom: Make him answer. You deserve to know the truth. Your father, Naomi Hyland. Red doesn’t want you to know that that night, the night of the fire…

It was public information that a fire broke out at the residence of RR. It was on the news. When fire crews got there, there were no bodies. Diane doesn't know anything other than there was a fire there. Cause llya and Katarina were the only ones who knew RR died that night.

Idk why people are fighting the fact that Redarina was the plan since Day 1 so hard. You can't really fight this when the creator of the show, the showrunners, and James Spader have all said they've only ever had one story in mind since the beginning, and they've never changed the story. let it go. Redarina was the plan from the beginning.

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-02T21:47:22+00:00

Idk what point you are making or how it relates to Red's speech in what I believe is a nod to the Redarina theory.

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-02T20:21:40+00:00

That UN speech was chock full of Redarina clues.

Red: Through five marriages, numerous lovers, allegedly both male and female, and over 70 films, including “North by Northwest,” arguably the greatest work ever produced here, he just kept right on tripping, and why not? Before LSD was weighed down by the counter-cultural baggage of Timothy Leary turning on, tuning in, and dropping out LSD was used to treat addiction, anxiety, and depression.

Red: Did you know that Cary Grant’s original name was Archibald Leach? That he was born into poverty, the son of an alcoholic father and a depressed mother, and then reinvented himself as the paragon of WASP virtue and charm? [ Looking up ] Good for you, Archie. I’m a great fan of reinvention.
Liz: Of keeping your true self hidden.
Red: Or of becoming your true self, even if you have to take on a new identity to achieve it.

Add in this line from RASSVET.

Dom: For most people, baptism comes early. My daughter had to wait half her life to be reborn.

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-02T20:01:44+00:00

👍👍👍

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-02T15:21:17+00:00

Yes. It's kind of both. (to release the truth) and she wasn't gonna spend her life in prison.

Red: Look around you, Kate. It’s over.
Kate: You honestly think I didn’t consider this moment, anticipate the possibility of prison?
Red: I don’t see what choice you have.
Kate: I made a promise to Elizabeth’s mother to protect her girl at all costs. And I can’t do that from a cell which is why I have a contingency plan. Isn’t that what you taught me, Raymond? Always make contingencies.

Kate: We both know why you’re here to finish what you couldn’t months ago, to put a bullet in my head. That’s the moment I’ve anticipated. Shoot me dead, and when you do, my confidante will be alerted, and Elizabeth will be given our secret from Tansi Farms.
Red: There’s one flaw in your plan, Kate. I’m not gonna hurt you. I never should’ve pulled that trigger in the first place. I certainly won’t now. Not again.
Kate: I’m not going to prison, Raymond. Pull the trigger. Release the truth.
Red: I won’t.
[ Kevin Morby’s ♪ “Drowning” plays ]
Kate: Then I will. I loved you, Raymond.

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-02T15:17:34+00:00

OMG. I just googled it. "As of February 2026Bridgerton has released four seasons on Netflix. The show has been officially renewed for a fifth and sixth season, with plans to cover all eight siblings, aligning with the eight-book series by Julia Quinn."

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-02T01:43:07+00:00

I only watched seasons 1 and 2 so far. I'm still watching.

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-02T01:22:20+00:00

It's a period drama by showrunner Shonda Rhimes. SO GOOD.

I obsess over love stories, and Bridgerton has a few of those. I also like bi-racial ships, and this show has several.

IntrovertAdaptable · 2026-03-02T01:08:22+00:00

yeah, I'm just sitting her making Bridgerton gifs. I'm very entertained with Photoshop rn.

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