'The Blacklist' season 4 release date news 2016: New season airing this fall, Lix to make a big comeback?

"The Blacklist" season 3 will air its penultimate episode tonight, which means that fans will be one step closer to "The Blacklist" season 4, expected to premiere this fall.

NBC renewed "The Blacklist" while the third season still broadcasted, showing its confidence about the crime drama. However, it hasn't picked a premiere date for the show's small screen return yet.

According to reports, it will make sense for "The Blacklist" season 4 to premiere this September because the first two seasons landed in the same month during 2013 and 2014. The third season, however, premiered October last year.

It is safe to say that on either those months, the upcoming season will start a new chapter in the life of Red (James Spader) and even Liz (Megan Boone), who is rumored to return.

Rumors have been wild about Boone making an epic return in "The Blacklist" season 4, where it will be revealed she was alive all this time. Of course, fans should get a story that will make sense of all of it.

As for the happenings behind the scenes, it is speculated that Boone exited the show temporarily to take her maternity leave. She is expected to be back soon, presumably on "The Blacklist" season 4.

If Liz isn't alive all this time, it is being strategically kept by NBC, the same network that successfully hid Bitsie Tulloch's inclusion in "Grimm" season 5 after her character Juliette was presumed dead.

During interviews, the cast, crew and showrunners of the show claimed that Tulloch's run on the show has ended. It is possible that NBC is pulling the same trick on Liz for "The Blacklist."

"The Blacklist" season 3 returns later tonight at 9 p.m. EDT on NBC with its second to the last episode titled "Alexander Kirk," which also refers to the man Susan Hargrave (Famke Janssen) claims is responsible for killing Liz.