There was a lot of shock and sadness when CBS canceled Blue Bloods, but slowly and surely, the cast and fans are finding ways to move forward. For example, Donnie Wahlberg is gearing up for his spinoff, Boston Blue, and he’s excited about his new show and chapter. However, he also got candid about how Blue Bloods’ ending impacted his feelings toward his next outing as Danny.
Boston Blue is planned for the 2025 TV schedule and will premiere on CBS in the fall. In an interview with Deadline, Wahlberg talked about the new series and how learning about it somewhat forced him to move on and accept that, despite their best efforts to save Blue Bloods, it wasn’t going to come back:
It’s fascinating, right? Because we all mourn Blue Bloods, and still do, me as well. And I understand the audience, and your readers’ feelings because I share them. It’s very emotional to say goodbye, and when this show came along, I had just kind of turned the page and said, ‘Alright, it looks like it’s not gonna happen for Blue Bloods.’ We were hoping that somehow, someway, somebody would come, and we would continue to make our show.
Donnie Wahlberg confirmed that the cast truly did believe someone would come through and save Blue Bloods, but the announcement of Boston Blue felt like the final nail in the coffin of that happening. However, the legacy of the series will continue with Danny Reagan, who is shipping off to Boston to continue his career in law enforcement.
Obviously, there’s bound to be bittersweet feelings about this amongst fans who wanted Tom Selleck and others along for the ride. At the same time, Wahlberg continued in noting that while Blue Bloods is over, there’s always a chance for the legacy to live on through Boston Blue:
Then this show came my way, and I had to take a beat to look at it in the right context. In other words, it was like I kept looking back to Blue Bloods, and suddenly I was like ‘Wait a minute, I can look forward to Boston Blue?’ And this is keeping Blue Bloods alive, this is carrying on the traditions and the legacies, this is a way to bring Blue Bloods forward. So, for me, once I started to see it that way, it became very exciting to me. The end of something became the beginning of something new.
The actor certainly has a lot more to say about the show compared to his three-word response when Boston Blue was first announced. Perhaps enough time has passed, and he can speak a bit more candidly about being excited for a new opportunity to tell stories in the Blue Bloods universe, and fans are in a more understanding place to receive that message.
And for anyone who thinks the actor was eager to cut out on his own series and leave the previous one in the dust, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Saying goodbye to a series that potentially had a chance at being saved is not easy, as he illustrated below:
I will be honest, with Blue Bloods, it was hard. Typically, I’m like ‘Alright, that’s over, what’s next?’ And with Blue Bloods it was like ‘Damn it’s over, I can’t believe it, I’m not ready for that. I don’t want to know what’s next.’
I’m not sure many people could say goodbye to a job they’ve held for 14 years and have zero emotion about it. Donnie Wahlberg is the same as us, minus the fact that he’ll have his own TV show in primetime in the fall and the rest of us won’t. Even so, it’s good to know he still has love for Blue Bloods and is excited for the road ahead.
Boston Blue is planned to air on CBS on Fridays at 10:00 p.m. ET when the fall schedule gets rolling. Stream Blue Bloods on Paramount+ in the meantime, and wonder what’s in store for Danny in his new chapter in a new city.