The Blacklist type TV Show network NBC genre Crime

Thriller

[Spoilers ahead!]

The FBI has comfortably depended on Raymond Reddington (James Spader) and his insider intel to hunt down members of the Blacklist so far, but in tonight’s episode, Red becomes the target.

Still, Red won’t be facing his enemies alone, says Diego Klattenhoff, who stars on the show as FBI Agent Donald Ressler. Instead, of all people, Ressler — a.k.a. Red’s favorite punching bag — will be forced to protect the criminal mastermind from a possible assassination attempt.

“We have a great turn of events that end up sticking Ressler and Reddington together for a while,” Klattenhoff tells EW, adding that Red may begin to find out more about Ressler’s backstory throughout the ordeal. “Reddington has a few things up his sleeve.”

Written and directed by Joe Carnahan, who helmed the show’s pilot, the latest hour will see the FBI black site under attack, with Ressler and Red in the middle of the action.

As for Red’s would-be assassins, Klattenhoff teases that the new villains, including guest star Ritchie Coster’s Anslo Garrick and Alan Alda’s Mr. Crowley, are “really kickass.”

“It’s a big, bold turn of events,” the actor says about the Garrick’s two-part story line. “[Coster is] playing a really good villain, so it looks pretty dire at certain points. He’s somebody you wish would come back on the show.”

Does that mean Garrick will join the Stewmaker, Wujing, and other fallen Blacklisted villains by the end of the arc? Klattenhoff’s not telling — “We’ll see if he sticks around,” he says — but he does note that the cast and crew are itching to see the character reappear later in the season.

And even though it seems like Ressler has stopped looking into Liz’s history for now, Klattenhoff warns that his character’s misgivings about Red’s trust in the FBI profiler haven’t disappeared.

“There will always be a certain amount of suspicion,” he says. “I think there’s a certain amount of respect that Ressler has for her, but you have to err on the side of caution when she still has that connection with Reddington.”

Check out a preview for the episode below. The Blacklist airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.