One of the things that the Blue Bloods spinoff, Boston Blue, is going to have to explain to fans of the CBS police drama is what would motivate Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg) to resign from the NYPD, where he was a career detective, and relocate to Boston. After all, the Reagans are a tight-knit family, and serving the city of New York is part of their heritage.
“I can’t give you the exact reason why today, because that would be a big spoiler,” Wahlberg told Parade exclusively. “But I would say this, as family-oriented as Danny is, he’s also always marched to the beat of his own drum. I think those two things can be true at the same time. He can march to the beat of his own drum, and it can still be about family.” Wahlberg also teases that initially, when Boston Blue begins, Danny may not have already packed up and moved to Boston, but he could, in the beginning, be testing the waters.
“It’s going to be a journey and a process for him,” Wahlberg continued. “He’s with the audience who says, ‘I can’t imagine Danny would move to Boston,’ well, neither can he. He’s with you. He’s going to have to figure this out because it’s a dramatic life change.” But the timing may be right. Danny’s now an empty nester. His youngest son Sean (Andrew Terraciano) is allegedly off to college, and Danny was recovered enough from Linda’s death that he was considering dating again.
But there’s also the matter of getting out of the shadow of his father and his grandfather, who left big footsteps to follow at the NYPD. In Boston, there’s no baggage, so he would be his own man.
“I think he always was, but he has his own family, too,” Wahlberg said. “It’s not just his dad and his brother and sister. He has sons, and he has responsibilities to them as well. I’ll just say the journey of developing this show, it’s really fun letting Danny be a fish out of water to be in this new world. It’s also important to remember where he comes from and what the Blue Bloods legacy is. We’re keeping all of that at the forefront of our thoughts as we build this thing.”
Then there’s the matter of having the Reagans, especially dad Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck), be a part of the show, and included in Danny’s new life. We put the possibilities of Zoom, FaceTime or even a guest star appearance to Wahlberg.
“New York and Boston are really close,” Wahlberg said. “They’re not that far apart. I like the way you asked the question. You covered a lot of possible ways for people to drop in on us. Yeah, Blue Bloods is important to the audience, it’s important to me, it’s important to Sonequa [Martin-Green, Danny’s new partner]. She’s a Blue Bloods fan. She’s my partner, and she’s a Blue Bloods fan. She wants to keep that legacy alive, as well.”
Boston Blue will be taking over the Blue Bloods timeslot this fall on CBS when it airs on Friday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. And it’s building its own family dynasty. As mentioned, Martin-Green will play Danny’s new partner, Det. Lena Silver, but she comes from a law enforcement family. Her mother Mae Silver (Gloria Reuben) is Boston’s District Attorney and the widow of a judge. Her stepsister Sarah (Maggie Lawson) is the Police Superintendent, and her brother Jonah (Marcus Scribner) is a rookie cop.
