Contains minor spoilers for “Blue Bloods” Season 14 Part 2
“Blue Bloods” is a family affair, so maybe it’s not a big shocker that two long-missing members of the Reagan clan will return for its final hurrah after the show was officially canceled by CBS. In a post on Donnie Wahlberg’s Instagram, in which he and several members of the cast take part in the Get Down Dance Challenge, two faces who are familiar to fans but have been rarely seen in recent seasons can be spied tripping the light fantastic by the star’s side: Sami Gayle and Tony Terraciano.
Gayle portrays the rebellious, tattoo-sporting teen and daughter of Erin Reagan (Bridget Moynahan), Nicky Reagan-Boyle. Nicky stopped appearing on the show as a regular after Season 10, though she has popped up in a guest-starring capacity during Season 11, Season 13, and, now, Season 14. It was explained that Nicky is in college at Columbia University. This fate mirrors Gale’s real life and is the actual reason why she left “Blue Bloods,” as she was in the middle of pursuing a college degree of her own at Columbia. Post-college, Gayle has appeared in “Bad Cinderella” on Broadway.
Terraciano is Danny Reagan’s (Wahlberg) elder son, Jack. He hasn’t been a regular since Season 9, though the character has appeared in at least one episode every season since then. Jack’s absence was directly explained onscreen in Season 9’s “Thicker than Water,” where Danny sends his son off to college. While neither Nicky nor Jack have been regulars at the Reagan family’s table since they departed New York, they have nonetheless always managed to come home for the holidays.
Nicky and Jack have popped up in several episodes since leaving Blue Bloods
Nicky Reagan-Boyle and Jack Reagan have both managed to make it home since leaving the series as regulars, often at the same time and usually as part of “Blue Bloods'” hard-to-film family dinner scenes. They both pop up in Season 10’s “Naughty or Nice” and “The Real Deal,” Season 11’s “Atonement,” and Season 13’s “Forgive Our Trespassers.” Sami Gayle skipped Season 12, largely due to her Broadway commitments, which means Jack appears in Season 12’s “Hate is Hate” without his sister.
It remains to be seen what the characters will be doing with their lives at the tail end of Season 14. Wahlberg’s footage shows everyone wearing formal clothing, with those who aren’t in police uniforms sporting basic black ensembles. Might there be a funeral in the future for the family? Or does more positive news, like a promotion, lie ahead of them? Might there even be a wedding in the offing? Whatever the case, everyone will find out when the final episodes of “Blue Bloods” air on CBS this fall and winter.