If you have ever tried to catch up with a long-running crime drama, you have probably asked a very practical question first: how many episodes of the blacklist are there? It is the question that decides whether a rewatch is a weekend project or a months-long commitment, and it also helps new viewers understand how the story was built over a decade on screen. The Blacklist is a long series with a large episode catalogue, so a clear, season-by-season answer is much more useful than a single number on its own. In this guide, we set out the completed series total, break it down by season, and explain how the count is usually presented in episode guides.
For anyone planning a watch-through, the headline figure matters most, and we will return to it throughout this article. When people ask how many episodes of the blacklist are there, they are usually looking for the finished total for the whole run, not a count that is still growing. That is an important distinction, because the series has now concluded, which means the total is fixed. You can therefore plan a recap, a rewatch, or a first viewing with confidence that the number will not change next month.
How Many Episodes of The Blacklist Are There? The Short Answer
How many episodes of the blacklist are there in total? The completed series contains 218 episodes across ten seasons. The show ran from 2013 to 2023, and its final season brought the story to a close, leaving a finished catalogue of 218 instalments. That figure is the one used by most episode guides, and it is the simplest answer to carry into any discussion of the series.
To put that number in perspective, 218 episodes is a substantial body of work. At a typical running time of around forty minutes per episode, excluding advertisements, a full watch-through amounts to well over one hundred hours of television. That is why so many viewers search for a recap first: they want to remind themselves of the major turns in the story before they commit to a particular season, or they want to check where they left off after a break. It is a common starting point for anyone asking how many episodes of the blacklist are there, because the answer shapes the whole viewing plan. A season-by-season breakdown makes that task far easier, because it shows exactly how the total is distributed.
It is also worth noting that the figure of 218 refers to broadcast episodes in the main series. It does not include promotional clips, behind-the-scenes features, or short online extras, which are sometimes listed separately by fan sites. When episode guides give a total, they are normally counting the standard episodes that formed each season, and that is the basis used here. Keeping that definition in mind prevents confusion when different websites appear to disagree by one or two entries. Anyone comparing sources for how many episodes of the blacklist are there should therefore check whether specials or extras have been counted.
How Many Episodes of The Blacklist Are There in Each Season?
The most useful way to answer the question is season by season. The Blacklist did not have the same number of episodes every year: most seasons contained 22 episodes, but two seasons departed from that pattern. Season three ran slightly longer, while season seven ran shorter. The table below sets out the completed breakdown, and the figures add up to the series total of 218.
| Season | Episodes | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 22 | The opening season that introduced the central premise. |
| Season 2 | 22 | A full-length follow-up season. |
| Season 3 | 23 | The longest season of the run. |
| Season 4 | 22 | A standard full-length season. |
| Season 5 | 22 | A standard full-length season. |
| Season 6 | 22 | A standard full-length season. |
| Season 7 | 19 | A shorter season than the usual run. |
| Season 8 | 22 | A return to the standard season length. |
| Season 9 | 22 | A standard full-length season. |
| Season 10 | 22 | The final season, closing the series. |
| Total | 218 | Ten completed seasons. |
Adding those figures together gives 22 plus 22 plus 23 plus 22 plus 22 plus 22 plus 19 plus 22 plus 22 plus 22, which equals 218. Season seven is the main reason the total is not a round multiple of 22: its shorter run of 19 episodes brings the overall count down by three. Season three, meanwhile, pushes the total up by one with its 23 episodes. Once those two variations are understood, the arithmetic is straightforward, and there is no mystery about where the total comes from. That clarity is exactly what people want when they ask how many episodes of the blacklist are there.
For viewers returning to the series, this breakdown also works as a progress tracker. If you have finished season five, for example, you have watched 111 episodes, which is just over half of the complete run. If you have reached the end of season eight, you have watched 174 episodes, leaving 44 still to go. Framing progress in this way makes a long series feel manageable, and it helps households that watch together agree on a stopping point. It also answers the follow-up question that usually comes with how many episodes of the blacklist are there, namely how much viewing remains.
What Is The Blacklist About?
The Blacklist is an American crime drama centred on Raymond Reddington, a notorious fugitive who surrenders to the authorities and offers to help track down dangerous criminals, working through a list of names that gives the show its title. He insists on working with Elizabeth Keen, a young FBI profiler, and much of the series explores the complicated relationship between the two characters alongside the case-of-the-week investigations. The format therefore combines standalone criminal cases with a long-running central mystery, which is one reason the episode count matters: the standalone stories can be enjoyed individually, but the overarching plot rewards viewers who follow the seasons in order. For newcomers asking how many episodes of the blacklist are there, the serialised thread is the reason the order matters as much as the total.
That structure also explains why recap guides are so popular for this particular show. A viewer who dips in midway may understand the criminal case in a single episode, yet miss the significance of a name, a photograph, or a conversation that connects to earlier seasons. A good recap does not need to retell every scene; it needs to restore the thread of the central mystery so that the next episode lands properly. A recap that states how many episodes of the blacklist are there, season by season, is therefore more useful than one that only summarises plot points. Knowing how many episodes sit behind you, and how many remain, helps you judge how much recapping you actually need.
The series also changed over time, as long-running shows tend to do. Characters left and arrived, the balance between standalone cases and serialised storytelling shifted, and the final seasons worked towards a conclusion for the central mystery. Viewers who watched from the beginning often describe the experience as following a story in chapters, with each season acting as a distinct phase. The season breakdown above reflects those phases in numerical form, even though the creative story is best appreciated by watching the episodes themselves.
Why Do Some Guides Seem to Give a Different Number?
Anyone researching how many episodes of the blacklist are there may occasionally find a figure that differs slightly from 218, and there are a few ordinary explanations. The most common is timing: guides written while the show was still running naturally gave a lower, interim total. A page last updated during season nine, for example, would show the count up to that point rather than the finished total. Once the tenth and final season aired, the completed figure settled at 218.
Another source of confusion is the way two-part episodes are listed. Some guides list a two-part story as a single entry with a combined title, while others list its two halves separately. Both approaches describe the same broadcast material, but they can produce totals that differ by one or two. The count used here follows the standard episode-by-episode listing, in which each separately numbered broadcast episode counts once, which is the convention most episode guides adopt.
Specials and spin-off material can add a third layer of confusion. The Blacklist inspired related projects and promotional content, but those are not part of the main series episode count. If a source appears to include them, its total will look higher. For the purposes of planning a watch-through of the main show, the figure to use is 218 episodes across ten seasons, and anything beyond that should be treated as supplementary material rather than required viewing.
If you enjoy exploring other long-running series, our guide to television series worth watching offers further viewing ideas, while our look at the history of the television sets shows like this one in a broader context. For cast-focused reading, the Longmire television series cast guide is another example of how episode and cast information is organised on this site.
Planning a Recap or Rewatch of 218 Episodes
A catalogue of 218 episodes rewards a little planning. One practical approach is to watch season by season, with a short break between seasons to absorb the major developments. Another is to use a recap of the central mystery before starting a new season, so that returning plot threads feel familiar rather than confusing. Either way, the season table above gives you natural chapter breaks: finishing a season is a satisfying milestone, and the episode counts tell you how long each chapter will take. That is the practical payoff of knowing how many episodes of the blacklist are there: each season becomes a measurable stage in the journey.
Households watching together often benefit from agreeing on a pace in advance. Two episodes an evening, for example, would carry a household through a standard 22-episode season in eleven evenings, while one episode a day would take just over three weeks per season. At that steady pace, the full series would take roughly seven months, which sounds long but is entirely manageable when spread across regular viewing slots. Faster viewers who watch several episodes in a sitting will naturally finish sooner, but the season structure still provides useful resting points. Viewers who first asked how many episodes of the blacklist are there often return to the season table to reset their pace after a break.
It is also worth deciding in advance how strictly you want to avoid spoilers. Because the series is complete, summaries and recaps for later seasons are widely available, and a careless search can reveal major plot developments. If you are watching for the first time, it is safer to search by season number rather than by character name or plot detail, and to stick to recaps that cover only the episodes you have already seen. Viewers returning for a rewatch, by contrast, can enjoy full-series recaps without that worry. Either way, the question of how many episodes of the blacklist are there is best answered before a search that might spoil later twists.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes of The Blacklist are there altogether?
There are 218 episodes altogether, spread across ten completed seasons. That is the finished total for the main series, and it will not increase now that the show has concluded.
How many seasons of The Blacklist are there?
There are ten seasons. Most contain 22 episodes each, with season three containing 23 episodes and season seven containing 19 episodes.
Which season of The Blacklist is the longest?
Season three is the longest, with 23 episodes. Season seven is the shortest, with 19 episodes, while every other season contains 22 episodes.
Is The Blacklist finished?
Yes. The series concluded with its tenth season, so the episode total of 218 is final. New viewers can therefore watch the complete story from beginning to end without waiting for further episodes.
How long would it take to watch every episode?
At around forty minutes per episode, the full run amounts to roughly 145 hours of viewing before advertisements. The actual time depends on your pace, but the season-by-season counts above make it easy to plan a schedule that suits you.
Conclusion
So, how many episodes of the blacklist are there? The complete answer is 218 episodes across ten seasons, from 2013 to 2023. Most seasons contain 22 episodes, with season three running to 23 and season seven running to 19, and those two variations explain the final total exactly. Whether you are starting the series for the first time, returning after a break, or planning a full rewatch, that season-by-season picture gives you everything you need to organise your viewing. Keep the table bookmarked, take the story one season at a time, and the long central mystery at the heart of the show will unfold at a pace you can genuinely enjoy.