Yahoo News Blacklist star reveals why playing Tom Keen was a "really rare experience"
Ryan Eggold has reflected on his time starring as Tom Keen on The Blacklist.
The actor starred on the show for five seasons – and had a short-lived spin-off – before his character was surprisingly killed off. He now stars on medical drama New Amsterdam.
Speaking to Digital Spy, Eggold described playing Tom as a "really rare experience" and added that he is grateful to have had such an opportunity.
"It's a great show. It's a cool show," he said. "James [Spader] and Megan [Boone] both do an amazing job.
"The arc I got to play as Tom Keen was very rare, especially in network television. He got to be a lot of different people, and he changed so much from season 1 to season 5. And I attribute that certainly to [creator] Jon Bokenkamp and the writers, and they just wrote a very long-ranging arc that you don't always get.
Related: Ryan Eggold reveals New Amsterdam character will be "confronting his own mortality"
"[Tom] got to be the doorman, and he got to be the sweet, nice guy. He got to be teacher, and then he got to be the spy. He got to be the assassin, and he got to be a neo-Nazi. It was always different, so it was a really rare experience. It was fun."
Eggold now gets to play a doctor as the lead character of New Amsterdam. The show, recently renewed for a second season, centres on Dr Max Goodwin (Eggold), a medical director at one of the oldest public hospitals in America who learns that he has cancer.
"The good news is, it's based on [former real-life medical director Eric Manheimer] and his life. He beat this thing," he said.
"He stayed in his position as long as he could while fighting this, which is remarkable, until he had to take some time off to deal with it."
New Amsterdam is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video.
Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Instagram and Twitter account.
('You Might Also Like',)
