Blue Bloods may be offer, but the lives of the characters are not. CBS recently announced plans for a spinoff titled Boston Bloods, which will follow Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg) as he relocates to the City on a Hill. It’s very exciting news, but it was not an easy conclusion to arrive at for the network.
Deadline broke news of the spinoff, and additionally revealed the plans that didn’t make the cut. CBS wanted to make sure they put their best foot forward when it came to extending Blue Bloods as a TV brand, so they cycled through different versions of what a spinoff could look like. One of them had a different Reagan, Frank, at the helm.
Danny’s father, played by Tom Selleck, was originally pitched as the star of a spinoff series. There are no additional details provided by Deadline, but the notion of Selleck’s character taking the reins is an intriguing one, especially given how vocal the actor has been about wanting to continue playing the NYPD commissioner.
Tom Selleck wants to keep playing Frank Reagan
The press tour for the last season of Blue Bloods was characterized by Selleck voicing frustration over the show’s cancellation. He didn’t see why CBS would pull the plug on a show that continued to pull in strong ratings.
“I’m kind of frustrated,” Selleck told TV Insider. “During those last eight shows, I haven’t wanted to talk about an ending for Blue Bloods but about it still being wildly successful.” In a separate conversation with Parade Magazine, the actor made it clear that he would want to play Frank Reagan for as long as possible.
Especially since the actor felt Reagan would not simply retire and spend his days quietly fishing. “I’m open to suggestions, because I love Frank Reagan,” he explained. “I don’t see him retiring and going off somewhere.” The Parade interview was conducted in December, however, and the actor claimed that CBS still hadn’t approached him with any spinoff plans. “Nobody’s really asked,” he revealed.
CBS decided to focus on Donnie Wahlberg’s character
Selleck believed Blue Bloods was taken for granted because it was consistent throughout its decade and a half run on CBS. Ultimately, though, the network decided to go in a different direction and focus on a younger member of the Reagan family.
It makes sense on multiple levels. For one, Wahlberg is not the police commissioner, so he can pick up and move to another city more easily. For another, Selleck’s character would not simply retire or find a new position, as he stated, so it would have been hard to base a spinoff around a situation that was so close to the original show.
