Warning: This article contains spoilers forThe Blacklistseason 7, episode 4, Kuwait.
Blacklistviewers finally have answers about what went down in Kuwait.
Now, thanks to the Cooper-centric episode Kuwait, we know what happened all those years ago.
Virginia Sherwood/NBC
During the investigation that followed, the real Raymond Reddington was part of the panel looking into the issue.
Complicating the trip is Harolds decision to tell Main Justice about Reddingtons real identity: Russian operative Ilya Koslov.
The harrowing ordeal puts Harold through the wringer and is a showcase for Lennix.
Virginia Sherwood/NBC
HARRY LENNIX:I knew that Reddington and Harold knew each other from the military.
That was a hotbed around the 90s, I actually had friends who were in that conflict.
I knew a little bit about the history of what those engagements were.
Will Hart/NBC
So while I knew the kind of vague aspect of it, I dont know the details.
Thats true also of some of the details of what happened specifically to Cooper in Kuwait.
And thank God we have such gifted writers that they did all that math for me.
Warner Bros. Pictures
How much did you enjoy telling this Cooper-centric story and allowing the viewers to get to know him better?
I compare it a little bit to being in the singing group everybody knows, the Temptations.
So this time I feel like its like Otis Wilson getting to sing a lead on the song.
I definitely think so.
That really is the balancing act that law enforcement has to deal with every day.
This episode includes some great Cooper-Red scenes.
What has it been like building that rapport with James Spader over the years?
It never becomes something that I take for granted.
Hes always dialed in.
Ive never known him not to be.
Its been really cool getting to grow in comfort with an actor as a character on this show.
Thats established, so we actually get to do other things and concentrate on other things.
How has playing Harold specifically opposite Reddington changed now that he knows Red is actually Ilya?
I think its changed a lot.
We have the devil we know and the devil that we dont know.
But if he is not in fact Reddington, then in whose interest is the operating?
Copper tells Panabaker the truth about Kuwait instead of Reds true identity at the end of the episode.
It becomes almost philosophical.
We are constantly redefining ourselves and figuring out ourselves before and after events.
Theres cause-and-effect that has great impact on people.
Even if it comes as a blast from the past.
So thats what I love about it, is theres kind of a great symmetry to it.
We believe weve known these characters for some years now, but were always finding out different things.
And I think that thats true of life and its true of a really good, long-running show.
Does this revelation, this ordeal, actually change Cooper?
In all honesty and to some degree of relief, I dont know.
I hope we spend more time with the two of them in their mutual past, so to speak.
I do have to ask about the news that theyremaking a fourthMatrixmovie.
I can only tell you that it was great being in it for the first two.
I havent heard anything about going forward with it.
It would be great.
Id be delighted and honored, and had a great time on it.
We were kind of family.
We were there for some time, almost two years, working on the sequels and so forth.
Im a fan of the franchise ofThe Matrix.
So Im certainly gonna see it; even if Im in it, Ill see it.
The Blacklistairs Fridays at 8 p.m.
