‘The Blacklist’: Who Plays Alina Park? Newbie Agent Promoted to Series Regular for Season 8
Season 7 of The Blacklist wrapped early due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic but not before introducing the newest agent on the block, Alina Park. With season 8 on the horizon, viewers want to know more about the FBI’s task force member. Here’s what we know.
Fans have a lot of opinions about ‘The Blacklist’ task force team
From the very beginning of NBC’s The Blacklist, the FBI task force team has been the foundation for which all episodes revolve. On profiler Elizabeth Keen’s (Megan Boone) first day, she joined Donald Ressler (Diego Klattenhoff), Aram Motjabai (Amir Arison), and Meera Malik (Parminder Nagra) under Harold Cooper (Harry Lennix).
After writers killed Meera off, in came Mozhan Marnò for the season 2 premiere as Agent Samar Navabi. Fans took to Samar — especially when it came to Aram’s crush-turned-relationship with the agent.
Marnò stayed through episode 14 of season 6 before her character went into hiding from the Mossad, who had a hit on her. Her exit left Aram — and fans — devastated.
Then, season 7 introduced Agent Alina Park to fill the void Samar left. Her presence among the task force members came with mixed reactions from dedicated Blacklist fans. According to Twitter, some thought the character was a great addition while others felt she didn’t live up to Samar’s role.
Only time will tell if Agent Park can truly become a part of Cooper’s team. More than that — if she and Raymond “Red” Reddington (James Spader) will ever see eye-to-eye.
Who plays Alina Park?
As a recent graduate of Quantico, Agent Park’s resume speaks volumes. However, her short fuse and mysterious past make her difficult to pinpoint.
Laura Sohn plays Agent Park. According to her Rutgers Actor Representation bio, Sohn “attended Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts in New Brunswick, New Jersey, where she obtained a BFA in acting.”
The site also states the actress is “fluent in the Korean language, plays the flute, practices yoga, and also enjoys bike riding, swimming, running, and shooting.”
As a relative Hollywood newcomer, The Blacklist is only Sohn’s 5th role to date. Since 2016, she’s also appeared in God Friended Me, Instinct, NCIS: New Orleans, and The Vampire LeLand.
TV Line reported The Blacklist is Sohn’s first series-regular credit.
How the pandemic will affect season 8 of ‘The Blacklist’
Season 7 of The Blacklist ended three episodes short due to the pandemic. The finale wasn’t what fans expected with an animated portion to round things out.
Executive producers, John Eisendrath and Jon Bokenkamp told Variety they’re aware of the plot holes left, adding things slipped when they lost the three [planned] final episodes.
“Normally we start the season in the writers’ room, thinking, ‘Oh my God, we put all the great stuff at the end of the previous year.’ At least this year, moving forward, it’ll be the opposite,” Eisendrath said.
“We have all this great stuff that we haven’t filmed, and hopefully it will allow us to start next season with a bang.”
Look for more of Agent Park and the rest of the crew whenever season 8 of The Blacklist comes around.
