After the surprising departure of Jackie Curatola (Jennifer Esposito) from “Blue Bloods,” Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg) still needed a partner. Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long. In the same episode that Jackie left — Season 3, Episode 7, titled “Nightmares” — Detective Kate Lansing, played by Megan Ketch, came into the picture. But how many episodes of “Blue Bloods” was Megan Ketch actually in?
The actor was in a total of five episodes of the police procedural. She only stuck around for a portion of Season 3, also making appearances in “Higher Education,” “Secrets and Lies,” “Fathers and Sons,” and “Framed.” In that last episode, Lansing’s time as Danny’s partner comes to an end when she transfers to the Internal Affairs Bureau.
Ketch’s exit from “Blue Bloods” was far less contentious than Esposito’s, who almost brought a lawsuit against the show. Ketch was specifically brought on as an interim substitute for Esposito until a long-term replacement was found. Danny’s permanent partner would come a little later in Season 3, when he teamed up with Maria Baez (Marisa Ramirez).
Megan Ketch has continued working in film, TV, and theatre
Megan Ketch’s time on “Blue Bloods” was brief, but she hasn’t done too bad for herself in the years since leaving the CBS drama. She’s had a solid acting career, with recurring roles on “The Good Wife,” “Jane the Virgin,” and “American Gothic,” as well as parts in films like “The Incredible Jessica James.” But “Blue Bloods” set her on the right path, as she first appeared on the show in 2012, having only graduated from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2011. However, in an interview with VoyageLA, she admitted that getting high-profile work so quickly wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. “Instant opportunity and buy-in from the industry was both a fairy tale and a gauntlet,” she said. “Expectations of my competence superseded time to exercise my new skills and hone my voice.”
Ketch has stretched her talents far beyond simply appearing in front of the camera. She’s also brought her sensibilities to the world of theatre, adapting and directing the play “Chekhov in Love,” which ran in Los Angeles in 2023. She’s also doing well in her personal life, as she married actor Max Deacon in 2018. The two have a son together, who was born in 2022.
Jackie Curatola came back to “Blue Bloods” for an episode during Season 13. Could Danny reunite with another former partner in Season 14? It’s highly unlikely, but Megan Ketch seems too busy anyway to go back to her police show roots.