Donnie Wahlberg wasn’t sure about being cast as Tom Selleck’s onscreen son in Blue Bloods.
In Friday’s episode of Brotherly Love, Wahlberg chatted with hosts and brothers Joey Lawrence, Matthew Lawrence, and Andrew Lawrence about his career and the current hit CBS series. The 54-year-old actor shared his first impression of landing the role of Det. Danny Reagan, the son of Tom Selleck’s NYPD Commissioner Francis “Frank” Reagan.
“I got hired on the show and [Selleck] was really excited, cause he was a fan of Band of Brothers, so he was like ‘Oh yeah, this guy’s good,’” Wahlberg told the Lawrence brothers. “But I walked in the room and he’s like 6’4, I’m like 5’11” I think.”
“So I walk in, and I’m like, ‘Oh my god, he’s got so much hair, his eyebrows are so bushy,’” the actor joked about his on-screen dad’s very different appearance from himself. “I didn’t even care about the mustache.”
“I was like, ‘How am I this dude’s son?’” joked the New Kids On The Block singer. “I was like, ‘They’re gonna fire me tomorrow.’”
But after that moment of apprehension, Wahlberg met Len Cariou, who plays his grandfather Henry Reagan in the series, and felt much more at ease. “He’s shorter than me, same hairline,” quipped the actor. “I was like, ‘Alright, I got his genes. I’m good.’”
He also shared how he was first surprised that the series got picked up in 2010. The show — which is concluding with its 14th season — was originally titled Reagan’s Law, and Wahlberg’s agents told him it wasn’t “getting picked up.”
Wahlberg explained he had that conversation while he was traveling with the New Kids On The Block members for their annual cruise. “I was like, all right, well I’ll go have a great cruise with the with my fans and the New Kids; we’ll have a great time, it’s all good,” he said.
“And then somewhere in the middle of the ocean on Saturday or Sunday, my agent is like ‘You have to get go to your cabin, the agent’s trying to call you,’” he recalled. “She said, ‘Can you be in New York tomorrow? You’re on a show called Blue Bloods, and it’s been picked up.'”
“I was like, ‘When this boat comes into port, I’m getting on the first plane. I’ll be there,’” Wahlberg recounted.
Blue Bloods airs on Fridays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.