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Donnie Wahlberg will keep Blue Bloods‘ legacy alive in Boston Blue, a forthcoming spinoff of the popular CBS police procedural, which ended its 14-season run in December 2024.
CBS announced the spinoff this week, revealing that Wahlberg would once again slip into the uniform of Danny Reagan, an NYPD detective unafraid to bend the rules in the name of justice. The twist? He’ll be relocating from New York City to Boston, far from his family of law enforcement veterans, which includes Tom Selleck‘s Frank Reagan and Bridget Moynahan‘s Erin Reagan.
Executive produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, KristieAnne Reed, and Wahlberg, the spinoff’s showrunners will be Brandon Sonnier and Brandon Margolis, who previously worked on The Blacklist and L.A.’s Finest.
Here’s everything we know about Boston Blue so far, including its plot, cast, and premiere date.
What is Boston Blue about?
Photographer Name/CBS via Getty
The Blue Bloods spinoff follows Wahlberg’s hotheaded detective Danny Reagan, the oldest living son of NYPD Commissioner Frank Reagan (Selleck). Though he spent the majority of his life living in (and policing) the Big Apple, the new series will transport him to Boston.
He’ll be paired with a detective named Lena Peters, described in a CBS press release as “the eldest daughter of a prominent law enforcement family.” (That should give the duo plenty to discuss.)
We don’t much outside of that, but it’s likely Danny will be forced to reckon with both the perils of the street and the politics of an all-new department, one where he won’t have the advocates he did back home.
It’s also possible that the spinoff will have a romantic component. It was revealed in the Blue Bloods season 8 premiere that Danny’s wife had died offscreen in a helicopter crash, and by the series finale, he appeared ready to find someone new. After making a promise to his grandfather, Henry (Len Cariou), that he’d try and settle down, he asked his partner, Maria Baez (Marisa Ramirez), out for pizza. Perhaps she’ll follow him to Boston? Or maybe he’ll still be looking for love in Beantown.
What has Donnie Wahlberg said about the Blue Bloods spinoff?
CBS
Not much as of now, but Wahlberg did speak about Danny’s potential future in an interview with Entertainment Weekly ahead of the Blue Bloods finale.
“I would say I would have Danny Reagan walk right into his next chapter of his life, maybe in a different place doing a similar job and perhaps with someone from the current cast,” he said. “But I want him to not be too far from the family so that he could still see them and spend time with them, but maybe to see what life has in store for him now that his boys have gone off and he’s empty nesting and his wife’s gone. Maybe he can see what the future holds for him on his own. As long as he can visit the family sometimes. Does that sound like a tease for a spinoff?”
It does! And it sounds like the creators took some of his notes. Does that mean we’ll get visits from his Blue Bloods friends and family? We’ll have to wait and see.
Which Blue Bloods characters appear in Boston Blue?
Craig Blankenhorn/CBS
As of this writing, Wahlberg’s Danny Reagan is the only member of the Blue Bloods cast slated to return for Boston Blue. That, of course, doesn’t mean he’ll be riding solo.
The press release for Boston Blue, for example, calls the show a “universe expansion” of Blue Bloods, which indicates an openness to include characters from the original show. And, as Selleck made abundantly clear ahead of the Blue Bloods finale, the cast wasn’t prepared for the show to end.
“We’re the third-highest scripted show in all of broadcast. We’re winning the night. All the cast wants to come back,” he said last year, expressing his frustration with the show’s cancellation. “And I can tell you this: We aren’t sliding off down a cliff. We’re doing good shows, and still holding our place. So, I don’t know.”
He wasn’t alone, either. Wahlberg and costar Bridget Moynahan admitted to feeling “upset and sad” about the series’ conclusion. “We’ve created such a family on set with each other and the crew,” said Moynahan. “Most of the crew’s been with us for 14 years, so we’ve been through a lot of weddings, births, deaths, and everything. We’ve been through it all with each other.”
That said, it would be surprising for Selleck’s Frank Reagan to wind up in Boston. As the actor put it to EW when we asked about the future of his character, he said Frank would be “commissioner till he drops.”
But it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Frank could get his own spinoff. Brian Robbins, Paramount’s co-CEO, has made it clear he’s keen on franchise extensions for the company’s most popular properties, including Blue Bloods. There’s no reason they have to stop at just one. (They sure didn’t for the company’s Dexter franchise, which is now comprised of Dexter: New Blood, Dexter: Original Sin, and Dexter: Resurrection, not to mention a potential spinoff about season 4’s Trinity Killer. Whew!)
How did Blue Bloods end?
CBS
The Blue Bloods series finale ended like many of its episodes, with the Reagan family gathered around the family dinner table. It was a hopeful, if bittersweet, conclusion, setting the stage for promising futures for the lead characters.
Getting there, though, requires a bit of bloodshed. Two gangs are working together to get amnesty for incarcerated members, threatening violence until their demands are met. This results in the deaths of both a judge and Luis Badillo (Ian Quinlan), the partner of Jamie’s wife, Eddie (Vanessa Ray). Frank is given the “keys to the city” by the wounded mayor to put a stop to the violence, which he eventually does with the help of Danny, Maria, Jamie, Eddie, and an inmate played by Edward James Olmos.
In happier news, Eddie reveals she’s pregnant and Erin proposes that she and her ex, Jack (Peter Herrman), give their marriage another shot. Danny, meanwhile, takes the first steps towards finding a new partner (a romantic one).
The episode ends with Frank celebrating his family. “You know, we’ve got a lot to be thankful for,” he says. “And looking around at this table, I gotta say, I couldn’t be more proud or grateful.”
Wahlberg spoke with EW about the rush of emotions he felt filming the finale.
“We all just kind of sat there for a long time, and I think everyone was hesitating to say something to say goodbye because A, nobody wanted to, and B, everyone knew once somebody starts talking, it’s a wrap,” he said. “The tissues are coming out and everyone’s going to start crying, and sure enough they did. I remember Tom read a poem — or, he didn’t read it. He’d memorized the poem and recited it. He’s known the poem for years, and he did that from time to time. He would say a poem or he would quote some old famous saying or something. He would always just drop these sage little things upon us at dinner from time to time.
“And he started the poem, and I just remember feeling like I transported back to 10-year-old Donnie watching Tom Selleck on TV and it just kind of hit me again. The first day we ever shot was the dinner scene, right? I didn’t have time then to be in awe of Tom Selleck, or to think, “Wow, when I was a little kid, if you told me I would work with Tom Selleck for 14 years — or ever — it would be more than I could ever have dreamed of.
“And now here I am, closing out 14 years with him, and I allowed myself to think about that while he was talking. And yeah, I was gone. I started crying and didn’t stop for a few hours. Of course, I felt all the emotion of the crew and the rest of the cast members, but that moment I thought about how when I’d be watching him on TV, my mom would be sitting right behind me, right with my grandma, and they’re both gone now. And how profound it was that somehow my life’s journey had taken me to this moment, and I just couldn’t help but feel incredibly blessed and incredibly grateful in that moment. And then it was my time to talk next, and that was really messy. I could barely get a word out.”
When does Boston Blue premiere?
Craig Blankenhorn/CBS
According to CBS, Boston Blue will premiere during the 2025-2026 broadcast season, so you may get to see it later this year. For now, though, you can watch all 14 seasons of Blue Bloods on Paramount+.
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