As the finale season of Blue Bloods hits screens, it’s leading star Tom Selleck reflected on “the past 13 years”.
Blue Bloods fans are marking a bittersweet celebration today as the show’s 14th and final season finally hits screens after being delayed by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes last year.
The show’s iconic lead, Hollywood star Tom Selleck, was among the first to speak out on the news when it first broke in November, much to fans’ dismay.
Although the 79-year-old doesn’t have any social media, he shared a statement with media at the time reflecting on the “honor and privilege” he’s had to work on the legendary CBS drama for the “past 13 years”.
The Magnum PI star added: “Working alongside these incredible actors, writers, producers, directors and crew has been a dream come true and I’m grateful to have been a part of this extraordinary group for over 275 episodes.”
He briefly thanked CBS for “their steadfast support” before not-so-subtly bashing the network as he predicted they “will find an awful lot of people aren’t ready to say goodbye to it”.
The cancellation was seemingly just as shocking to Tom as it had been for fans, with the actor adding: “The show’s more popular than ever, and I think [numbers] will increase with the interest this year. We’re certainly not out of ideas.”
Elsewhere in his heartfelt statement, Tom shared a sincere thanks with viewers who “gathered with us for dinner every Friday night”.
Ahead of the devastating announcement, Blue Bloods still held the number one primetime slot on the network and raked in a sensation 9.54 million viewers over the last year.
Tom’s predictions came true almost instantaneously as fans took to X to share their shock and dismay when the news first broke, with many dubbing it the “end of an era” while some took aim at the network writing: “Hope CBS tanks for doing this to our show.”
As the final installment of the long-running police drama, season 14 will have a slightly different format than fans are used to but will also have a slew of stars from previous seasons returning.
The new season will be split into two parts, with the first releasing weekly episodes from tonight onwards.
The second part will arrive in the autumn after a mid-season break.
The multi-generational drama has been running steadily since 2010 following family patriarch Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck) whose iconic mustache has become engrained in pop culture.