What happened to Heddie Hawkins? Why The Blacklist Character Faked His Own Death, Explained

A gripping crime thriller series, The black list is full of twists and turns, including Heddie Hawkins’ faked death in season 9. For 10 seasons, NBC’s The black list chronicled the adventures of Red Reddington (James Spader), a criminal genius turned FBI informant who used his intellect and experience to help bring down lawbreakers like himself. Spader emphasizes Red’s complexities – he can be cold and ruthless, but when he lets someone in, his loyalty and compassion know no bounds. One such person he has grown close to is Heddie Hawkins (Aida Turturro).

Heddie is featured in The black list season 5, episode 1, “Smokey Putnam.” She worked as an accountant on the carnival circuit and, alongside her boss, the titular Smokey, embezzled $2 million. Heddie accepts a lighter sentence in exchange for testifying against Smokey, but Red has other plans for her. He offers Heddie 2% of his business if she helps launder his moneyand she accepts. From there, the two form a sweet business relationship, with Heddie appearing throughout the seasons. But in The black list In Season 9, things look to get seriously worse for Heddie Hawkins.

Why Heddie Hawkins Faked Her Own Death in The Blacklist Season 9

She was part of Red’s plan to discover Marvin

The black list Season 8 saw the heartbreaking death of Liz Keen (Megan Boone), Red’s most trusted ally, and the quest to find her killer is a major Season 9 storyline. In Season 9, Episode 20, “Caelum Bank”, Red is led to believe that sweet Heddie Hawkins is responsible for Liz’s murder.. Red, Weecha (Diany Rodriguez) and Marvin (Fisher Stevens) pay Heddie a visit in Florida. When Red interrogates her, Heddie admits that she was in fact “looking for another employer”. Listening enough, Red has Weecha take Heddie to a back room, where a gunshot is heard.. Marvin jumps.

But it turns out that Red has been after Marvin for some time, and a phone call from Park (Laura Sohn) proves he’s dirty. That’s when Heddie returns to the room, very much alive, and it is revealed that her staged death was an elaborate strategy to discover Marvin.. Caught, he admits that he, in fact, is responsible for Liz’s death, for which he framed Heddie.

While Liz’s death is still tragic, it’s a relief that Heddie wasn’t to blame. Even for a show as twisty as The black listhaving Heddie, who never proved to have killer instincts, as responsible would have seemed like cheap shock value. Red would actually kill her too.

While the Blacklist The protagonist has no problem dismissing those who have done him harm, his victims are always people to whom the public has no attachment. If Heddie actually killed Liz and Red murdered her in revenge, it would have been doubly disturbing. While Liz’s death is tragic, the fact that Marvin was behind it is a more satisfying reveal. And after all this drama, The final episode of Heddie, season 10, episode 20, “Arthur Hudson,” finds Red’s ally happy and healthy, with the two enjoying a nice visit together.

Where have you seen actress Heddie Aida Turturro before

The veteran actress played Tony’s famous sister Janice on The Sopranos

Aida Turturro is the actress who plays Heddie Hawkins in The black listand while she may not be a household name, she is certainly a familiar face to many viewers. Turturro was acting professionally for over 35 years, and by far her best-known role is Janice Soprano in The Sopranos. Janice is the older sister of mobster protagonist Tony and an extreme narcissist. Between Janice and Heddie Hawkins, Turturro really proves her range, as the two women couldn’t be more different. Selfish Janice would certainly never fake her death for anyone.

However The black list is Turturro’s most recent credit to date, she still continues to act steadily and has played the recurring role of Judge Felicia Catano on Law and Order: SVU. Turturro does a predictably excellent job in the role, even if Catano doesn’t have as exciting stories as Heddie Hawkins.