Blue Bloods fans have been thirsty for a Danny Reagan and Maria Baez romance — but actor Donnie Wahlberg has enjoyed the characters’ years-long, super slow burn.
“I think they stand in the doorway of possibility,” Wahlberg, 55, exclusively told Us Weekly on Wednesday, December 11, referring to Danny (Wahlberg) and Baez (Marisa Ramirez) and where the two stand romantically after the Blue Bloods series finale. He claimed, “That’s not me diverting it.”
The actor — who is also hosting his sixth season of Very Scary People beginning this month — assured fans that they’ll see a spark of something between Reagan and Baez during the Friday, December 13, finale.
“There’s a really special scene that Danny and Grandpa Reagan share, and I think it definitely foreshadows where Danny’s life can go after the show,” Wahlberg explained. “And the first time he mentions it is with Baez and it’s really up to the audience to sort of imagine where they’re going to go.”
In a preview from the upcoming farewell episode, Danny and Baez share a sweet moment at work that hints at their future. “I was actually just thinking about something that my grandfather said to me. Do you want to get a pizza?” Danny asks Baez in the clip shared by TVLine on Tuesday, December 10.
The possible date is a longtime coming, but according to Wahlberg it couldn’t have happened sooner. “I think whatever happened with them had to happen after Blue Bloods,” he told Us, reminding fans that the two detectives — who started working together during season 3 — “didn’t get along for a long time as partners.”
Baez was paired with Danny after his first partner, Jackie Curatola (Jennifer Espositio), left New York City to work in a quieter district in upstate. (Detective Jackie has since returned for two episodes in season 13 and 14 to enlist Danny’s help on a pair of cases..)
After a rocky start to their partnership, Danny and Baez began to trust one another — that’s when fans started to root for them not just as coworkers but as a potential couple.
“She really helped get him to evolve and change and become a better guy and in turn a better detective. And he was already a good one,” Wahlberg said of Danny’s evolution.
He noted that if Danny started dating Baez earlier, say with “five years left,” it would’ve been too much.
“It just would’ve been about the dating and we would’ve then had to make them start not getting along again to keep it interesting. That’s the easiest story line to write is conflict,” Wahlberg theorized. “It just would’ve been a lot of conflict.”
Instead, the Blue Bloods writers have teased and tiptoed around Danny and Baez’s feelings for one another for years. Their connection became even more evident when Baez adopted a baby and Danny made sure she knew she wasn’t parenting alone.
“I really enjoyed the arc that we shared together with Danny and Baez as them evolving as friends and partners,” Wahlberg revealed. “And building a real love and respect for each other that didn’t really have to turn into a relationship — at least [until] perhaps in the final episode.”
While Wahlberg played coy about Danny’s relationship status in the series finale, he told Us that he couldn’t ask for a better journey on CBS as an actor.
“It’s very cool to be part of something that lasted 14 years. It’s very cool to have worked with Tom Selleck and Bridget Moynahan and Marisa Ramirez and Will Estes and all these amazing people I got to work with,” he shared. “It’s really cool to be part of something that meant so much to so many people and generations.”
At the heart of Blue Bloods is a story about family, as the Reagans connect every week over family dinner and compare stories about their lives as civil servants. That core theme is what resonates with Wahlberg all these years later.
“I can’t tell you how many people I’ve met who say, ‘Me and my parents watch it and my granddad watches it and we go over to his house on Fridays and watch it, and the dinner scene means so much to us,’” he explained. “That is very, very cool — to be able to know that I was part of that.”
Wahlberg confessed that fans asking him why the show is ending after 14 seasons has been hard to handle. “The impact that it had on so many people — it’s an incredible blessing. It’s an incredible honor,” he said. “I think the loss will be felt most because they’re looking for answers and I don’t have them. It’s just, ‘The show is going away.’”
He concluded: “Everything good comes to an end and hopefully I’ll find my way to something a fraction as special as Blue Bloods has been in my next endeavor.”
While Wahlberg hasn’t landed his next procedural show, he is the host of Very Scary People, which returns for season 6 on Sunday, December 15. Wahlberg told Us that while it’s not the same as Blue Bloods, he was drawn to the true crime series because of his role as Danny Reagan.
“I’m not sure I wanted to tell the stories at first. I think this Very Scary People would never have come along my way had it not been for Blue Bloods. Obviously, to me, they’re intertwined,” he revealed. “I think my portrayal of a New York City police detective for so many years put me in a position to be a good face for Very Scary People, but also put me in position to be, I think, the right host for it at the right time.”
He recalled, “Blue Bloods came along at the perfect moment [for me] and Very Scary People, because of Blue Bloods, came along at the perfect moment.”
Wahlberg teased that when fans watch him host the show it “could very well be Danny Reagan hosting” because of the investigative nature of the series. “And of course, ironically, season 6 begins two days after Blue Bloods ends, and so that’s just another connection between the two of them,” he added.