Regarding television, it’s never really a surprise when a character gets recast. Many shows, including some of the biggest and most successful series on TV, face this struggle. Sometimes, an actor’s personal schedule conflicts with filming, and at other times, controversy pushes certain actors out of the limelight. There are several reasons a series may recast a character mid-season, even a long-established and popular one. Blue Bloods is no different and still fell prey to having to recast a character after only a single appearance.
Blue Bloods, a beloved police procedural drama series, is not a stranger to replacing actors or recasting actors who depart from the series. Marlene Lawston originally portrayed Nicky Reagan in the Blue Bloods pilot. Lawston only appeared in Season 1, Episode 1, though. After the pilot, actor Sami Gayle took over the character and portrayed Nicky for the rest of the show’s impressive 14 seasons.
Blue Bloods was Marlene Lawston’s Final Screen Appearance
Not Much is Known About Her
Since Sami Gayle has portrayed Nicky Reagan since Season 1, Episode 4 – “Officer Down,” plenty of fans may not remember that she wasn’t Nicky’s original face. In Nicky’s very first appearance in the Blue Bloods pilot, Marlene Lawston played assistant district attorney Erin Reagan’s daughter. Lawston and Gayle look nothing alike, which is the one glaring difference between the two actresses, but it’s easy to overlook if viewers haven’t seen the pilot in a while.
Blue Bloods’ pilot episode was the final on-screen appearance for Marlene Lawstone. Before Blue Bloods, she appeared in a couple of television shows and films, including Blue’s Clues (1996-2007) and Flightplan (2005). In total, the young actress appeared in five projects before she vanished from the big and small screen. Marlene Lawston’s career as a child actor granted her a few notable jobs, but nothing seemed to stick. After appearing as Nicky in the Blue Bloods pilot, she never starred in another television show or movie again. Since Lawston was so young when she stopped acting, the public doesn’t have a lot of information about her. There isn’t really an official reason on record as to why she stopped acting. Maybe Lawston didn’t enjoy the stress of child acting or perhaps her parents pulled her out? It’s hard to say.
CBS Has Never Offered a Concrete Reason for Nicky’s Recast
Nor Has Anyone Working On Blue Bloods
Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer to the question, “Why was Nicky Reagan replaced?” CBS has never commented on the reason they replaced Nicky Reagan’s actress. Likewise, everyone else close to the situation also never reported a reason, so the truth behind Lawston leaving the show and being recast has never been confirmed. All fans have is speculation, and, unfortunately, that’s not likely to change. After so many years have passed, it’s unlikely we’ll ever have a solid answer to the question. The most likely reason boils down to standard casting procedures. Lawston played Nicky in the pilot episode, and TV pilots, more or less, act as a proof of concept. A pilot is a sales pitch to prove the premise of a show has enough meat on the bones to intrigue an audience. Pilot episodes are usually filmed long before the rest of the first season because they’re used as part of the initial pitch. Once a series is picked up by a network, the rest of the season will be filmed with a higher budget and potential changes.
When it comes down to Marlene Lawston, it could be as simple as she was available when they needed her for the pilot, but she wasn’t a long-term fit or she was no longer available once Blue Bloods was picked up by CBS. This is the most likely explanation as to what happened to her. Conflicting schedules are the most common reason an actor might be replaced or utilized less often, especially in the world of television. For example, Game of Thrones was forced to recast the Night King because of scheduling issues. Since the Blue Bloods pilot was the final project Lawston worked on, it’s entirely plausible that in the time it took CBS to pick up the show, Lawston and/or her parents already decided to walk away from her acting career. It’s also possible that CBS wasn’t impressed with Lawston’s portrayal of the character, so it decided to go forward with a recasting after the pilot episode. This happens often enough to be a trend in television, which often contributes to why pilots so often feel disconnected from the rest of the series. Again, none of this has ever been confirmed, but these are some of the most likely scenarios for why Sami Gayle took over the role after the pilot.
Some Fans Have Speculated that CBS Wanted to Change Nicky’s Storyline
Sami Gayle Does Look Slightly Older Than Marlene Lawston
While most fans can ignore how drastically different Nicky is in the pilot episode, some fans are hung up on how different the two actors’ appearances are. It’s hard to pass Sami Gayle’s portrayal of the character off as the same character because they look so shockingly different. Some fans have even pointed out that when Gayle joined the series, she looked slightly older than Marlene Lawston’s version of the character. It’s hard to say whether that was deliberate or not, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that it was.
Unfortunately, with such little information available to the public about Marlene Lawston and her decision to quit acting, it’s impossible to say for certain. Aside from Lawston’s IMDb page, there really isn’t much else to go on. Mix that with the fact that CBS and the Blue Bloods team have never publicly acknowledged the casting change or why it happened, and any potential answer reads the same. Everything is speculation at best. Since Blue Bloods finally concluded in 2024, it’s not likely that the Nicky Reagan recasting will ever be confirmed one way or another.
Will Nicky Reagan Return in the Boston Blue Spinoff?
The Blue Bloods Franchise Will Continue
So far, Sami Gayle has been silent on the possibility of starring in the Blue Bloods spinoff. Nevertheless, it seems the door has been left open for the return of other characters. Tom Selleck recently revealed that he would be theoretically interested in reprising his iconic role as Frank Reagan in the series, which could open the floodgates for other members of the Reagan family, including Nicky, to appear in future seasons. There are plenty of reasons for fans of Blue Bloods to get excited about Boston Blue, even if some of their favorite characters aren’t regular cast members therein.
