Donnie Wahlberg and the other Blue Bloods staff have nothing but respect for former costar Tom Selleck and a source exclusively tells Closer they’ve been keen to check up on him on a regular basis and offer support and advice while he ponders his next move.
“Over the decade they worked together they formed a very tight bond, they were a family,” the insider says. “That doesn’t just go away because the show is cancelled.”
The cop drama ran for 14 seasons before its abrupt cancellation at the end of 2024. Tom, 80, opened up about the emotional toll leaving the cast and crew behind took on him. “The hardest part for me is we had the Blue Bloods family and we had the actors’ family,” he told Parade in an interview published on Friday, December 6, 2024, just a week before the show’s final episode. “They’re all my pals. I miss them. It’s going to take a lot of getting used to.”
The actor reiterated how difficult he found the series’ end to Entertainment Weekly on December 14, 2024, right after the show’s finale. “The hardest thing I would say at this point [is] right now, this time of year, I would be shooting episodes of Blue Bloods, and I miss that,” the Emmy winner said, emphasizing that his relationship with the cast differed substantially from most others that form while filming a TV show or movie. “The thing that tugged at me most in adjusting and will continue is the family of actors we had and the friendships we formed. And you always say it’s kind of like high school graduation. Everybody says they’ll keep in touch and things happen. Well, that happens in movies, too. You say you do a movie, establish relationships and then it’s over.”
Though, as Closer previously reported, the Magnum, P.I. star and Donnie, 55, grew especially close, with their off-screen relationship resembling their on-screen father-son relationship, and the two vowed to keep in touch, despite the New Kids on the Block alum moving on to new projects while Tom considered retirement.
“Tom still speaks to Donnie several times a week and the same with Bridget,” the source continues. “They both respect him so much and love getting his advice on things and they’re also very protective of him, they worry.”
The cast shared warm wishes for Tom as he turned 80 on January 29, with Donnie posting, “Happy birthday Tom a.k.a. Dad,” alongside a photo of the two together.
“They know that working and being a part of the show gave him such a purpose, not to mention the paycheck, so they do fret about him being out of sorts now that it’s over. As soon as Donnie got news that he was getting a spin-off he called Tom, he was one of the first people he wanted to talk to,” the insider explains. “He let him know there will be a place for him to do walk-ons and cameos if he so chooses, it’s really a case where the ball is in Tom’s court because Donnie is a loyal and true blue guy, having Tom come on is a given.”