viewers of The blacklist were left puzzled when episode 19 of the show ended with a touching title card dedicated to someone named Kurt Perez. On May 6, the crime thriller returned to NBC with an all-new Season 9 episode titled “The Bear Mask.” The episode mostly focused on a new leadership challenge from Aram (played by Amir Arison), but the biggest talking point came from the heartfelt tribute at the end.
Online sources said Perez was driving the Taconic State Parkway in March 2022 when he lost control of his 2018 Ford Explorer and crashed into a tree. State police arrived at the scene around 12:30 p.m. and found the 50-year-old deceased. The soldiers believe that the condition of the wet road surface is the cause of the accident.
If anyone is wondering (like me) about that Kurt Perez tribute card at the end of #The blacklist 9:19, I couldn’t find out exactly what his job was in the crew. Mr. Perez was driving on the Taconic State Parkway (NY) on a Saturday evening in late March when his SUV left the 1/ https://t.co/SOuhXsaffW
— Lori 🇮🇪🇺🇲🇩🇪 🍸👬🏻👭🏻+ #Ukraine 🇺🇦 (@Resslerette1) May 7, 2022
The blacklist premiered September 23, 2013 on NBC. The show follows James Spader as Raymond “Red” Reddington, a former US Navy officer who voluntarily surrenders to the FBI after evading capture for decades. Perez was a crew member who unexpectedly died “at far too young an age,” according to CarterMatt. He was “an unsung hero to much of what you see on screen” and “was much loved by some others who work on the NBC series,” the outlet continued.
Kurt Perez was my dad and he was a handful on the blacklist for a few years he died in March pic.twitter.com/gdykqHPyCM
— Skylynn Perez (@qveeeeeen__) May 7, 2022
Kurt had received a sweet nod from the show’s crew in a behind-the-scenes clip just hours before the episode aired. Makeup artist Dena Olivieri shared the video on Instagram of the cast and crew celebrating the end of the ninth season. It is unknown what Perez’s role on the production team was, and little information about him is available.
The Blacklist has honored the show’s late cast and crew members on more than one occasion. The sixth episode of season 8, which aired in February 2021, paid tribute to actor Clark Middleton, who played eccentric DMV employee Glen Carter in 13 episodes. Middleton died in October 2020 at age 63 after battling West Nile virus, The Wrap reported.
“Clark somehow knew how to make Glen Carter — an incredibly annoying and frustrating guy — incredibly lovable and fun to watch. He approached the role with real humanity, which is why I think the character resonates so much with our audience,” the series creator said. Jon Bokenkamp told the outlet.
Brian Dennehy was also honored during a special episode in 2020. On April 15, 2020, the actor died at the age of 81. He returned as Dominic Wilkinson, father of Russian spy Katarina Rostove and grandfather of Elizabeth Keen, Deadline reported. He appeared in nine episodes of The blacklist before joining the show in Season 3. Two of those episodes were in Season 7 – his final season on the show. There are only two episodes left for season nine of The blacklist before ending on May 20.