Given that Blue Bloods only ended a couple of weeks ahead of the 2025 TV schedule’s arrival, it’s understandable that longtime fans may still have all kinds of feelings about the Reagan family no longer being a Friday night mainstay on CBS. The same goes for some of the show’s stars, many of which spoke out against the network’s cancellation decision, and even those who weren’t around since the early days, such as series vet Steve Schirripa, had bittersweet feelings about bowing out with Season 14.
One of the most successful ways Blue Bloods gained and maintained its massive audience was through the closeness of the Reagan family, and through the episode-capping meals around Frank Reagan’s dinner table. And the way Schirripa puts it, the cast members were indeed familial in the way they welcomed him into the fold upon the Season 6 arrival of his character, the retired detective Anthony Abetemarco.
Speaking with People, Schirripa reflected on the point when he joined the show in a recurring capacity in 2015, saying:
It was a very close-knit group, really, a nice group of people. I didn’t know anyone, so it’s strange when you’re stepping in and everyone knows each other, and you’re the new guy. But they treated me like one of them from day one.
The actor revealed that he was initially signed on to appear in just two Season 6 episodes, but eventually popped up in a whopping 146 installments after producers inquired about his interest in sticking around. Thankfully, he was indeed interested, and the rest is broadcast history.
Of course, things might have gone differently had Steve Schirripa been shunned, or just not felt as welcomed in general by his fellow cast members. But that thankfully wasn’t how it went down, and the Sopranos vet shared that his co-stars’ kindness extended beyond his more limited appearances in early eps, and lasted throughout his entire run. As he put it:
I mostly worked with Bridget and Donnie, but I wound up working eventually with everyone at one point, so that was good. I love working with Bridget, she’s a terrific, underrated actress who was just wonderful to work with, really smart, and Donnie is a great guy and a lot of fun.
After all of his years on Blue Bloods and in the boy band New Kids on the Block, I’d be surprised to hear about Donnie Wahlberg being rude to anybody, so it definitely tracks that he was a gent to work with. And I definitely agree with Steve Schirripa’s opinion that Bridget Moynihan is underrated, and if there’s anything to celebrate about the crime drama’s endgame, it’s the hope that Moynihan lands another equally celebrated role. (Wahlberg, meanwhile, is currently hosting HLN’s Very Scary People, which airs Sunday nights.)
Though he may not be seen on the small screen with his former Blue Bloods co-stars, he addressed the fact that he’s already reconnected with a couple of them in the months since filming wrapped up. As he put it:
I just saw Bridget at the Knicks game, and I talked to Will Estes the other day. We keep in touch.
Blue Bloods’ finale quite possibly brought in the biggest viewing audience for any series that ended in 2024, at least when it comes to broadcast networks. (Yellowstone’s series finale nearly doubled the CBS drama’s numbers.) So here’s hoping network execs can figure out a way to bring at least some of these characters back to the small screen in the future, even if a smaller ensemble is required to keep salary costs down.