Can Blindspot Outlive Its Tattooed Mysteries? Creator Martin Gero Talks Plans for the Series

One of the more promising new shows from the fall crop is NBC’s Blindspot. The story focuses on Jane Doe (Jaimie Alexander) a woman covered in tattoos and left in a duffle bag in Times Square, with no memory of her past.

Part character study, part police drama, this production has the unenviable task of becoming hybrid of a serial mystery mixed with a police procedural. It’s a hard balance and a risky move, something that Martin Gero, the creator, executive producer, and show-runner for Blindspot is very well aware of.

Gero recently spoke with reporters, giving some insight into his plans for Blindspot and discussing how long the series can go. “There’s a real concrete plan for the first three seasons, and then I have an idea on how to take it past there if we get there.” Gero says, remarking on the new pitching process for shows.

“Nowadays, people have been so burned by an idea that can last ten episodes. So you really have to come up with an enormous amount of backstory. We have all of the ten full episodes for the first season mapped out, and we know what the second season is and how to get into the third season.”

It’s a relief that this much attention has been given to developing the show past the central mystery. While unraveling Jane’s tattoos is (so far) the most compelling part of the show, it has a clear expiration date. Her body can only hold so many mysteries, and at some point — hopefully before we get three seasons in — the audience will tire of so many questions and demand answers.

Blindspot, like so many shows before it is a servant of two masters, trying to satisfy regular viewers and maintain its accessibility for people stumbling upon it mid season. “When you’re doing twenty-two [episodes] a year, sometimes you find out about something, and you’re like, oh man, I don’t have twenty-two hours to catch up on the first season,” Gero explains. “And so for us it’s very important that the show has an entry point for anybody at any time.”

The logic is clear; the more causal viewers a show has the higher the ratings go.  For a standard police procedural that makes sense, and has been successful for shows like CSI and Law and Order. However, for shows trying tell a serialized story, this “entry point” option can be problematic.

It frequently takes the form of exposition, so that any new viewer can get up to speed quickly, which is tiresome for the regular viewer. It also splits the storytelling in two, and sacrifices character development for easy to follow stereotypes. However, Gero placed a strong emphasis on the fact that not only do they have backstory, but they have answers as well.

“The drama — the mystery of who she is and why someone did this to her — we feel like we have a good answer for that,” Gero says. “I think it’s really dangerous for shows like this to feel like all middle from this point on. So we’re really going to churn through some pretty amazing story real quick.”

It’s still too early to say if Blindspot will be able to find a happy medium, but it seems like this just might be an improved take on the tired procedural drama.

Blindspot airs Mondays at 10/9c on NBC.