For the highly-anticipated Blue Bloods spin-off, which stars Donnie Wahlberg and premiered October 17, Andrew Terraciano was replaced by Mika Amonsen as Sean Reagan

The Blue Bloods universe finally entered a new era this week with the premiere of the highly-anticipated spin-off Boston Blue. Boston Blue, starring Donnie Wahlberg as Danny Reagan once again, premiered on CBS October 17, and introduced Blue Bloods fans to a new family prominent in law enforcement, this time the Silvers, who are based in Boston, rather than in New York City like the Reagans. And though in addition to Danny Reagan, the spin-off does bring over the Sean Reagan (Danny’s son) character over to Boston, original star Andrew Terraciano was replaced by Mika Amonsen.

Show creators Brandon Sonnier and Brandon Margolis, speaking with TVLine about their decision to recast Andrew, who joined the series in 2010 and played Sean for 292 episodes, said: “We wanted a slightly different version of Sean,” and explained: “We wanted a character that feels familiar, an actor that does resemble the character that we watched grow up. But as you saw in the pilot, he has made some life changes and having joined the police force, he is really picking up that family mantle.”

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In the premiere episode of Boston Blue, Sean and Jonah Silver (Marcus Scribner) both rookie cops, are out with friends when they see a fire in the building, and in the process of trying to save people from it, Sean is injured. His hospital stay subsequently brings Danny over to Boston, where he plans to stay for as long as his son needs him.

It was first reported that Mika would be replacing Andrew — whose brother Tony Terraciano starred as Jack Reagan on the show — in July, and Deadline reported at the time that the recast stemmed from the character taking a new creative direction, as he follows in his family’s footsteps and pursues a career in law enforcement. Boston Blue will now see Sean going off to Boston to become a Boston PD patrolman, in an effort to follow in his family legacy while still distancing himself from his hometown department.

Donnie himself also recently gave insight into his decision-making regarding the show, mainly his choice to move forward with it. Speaking on CBS Sunday Mornings on Sunday, October 12, he emphasized: “I love Blue Bloods. I fought tooth and nail to keep it on the air, and here’s an opportunity to keep this character alive,” before noting: “And suddenly when I started to look at it through that lens it was like, ‘How do I not do this?'”

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“If all of those millions of Blue Bloods fans don’t show up and love it, then I know we put our best foot forward,” he added. In addition to Donnie, Mika and Marcus, the show also stars Sonequa Martin-Green, Maggie Lawson, Ernie Hudson, and Gloria Reuben, among others.

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Also addressing his commitment to keeping busy, Donnie shared: “People say to me, ‘Gosh, when do you sleep?’ You want me to complain? Everything I’ve ever wanted, I’m doing it,” and, tearing up, maintained: “I want to work harder, I want to be worthy of the gift that so many people give me, their time and their love, it’s like, how can I not work my ass off to repay them.”

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Donnie’s co-star Sonequa also recently opened up about being a successor to such a beloved show. Speaking alongside Donnie in a video shared by CBS, she first recognized that the new cast is “obviously standing on the shoulders of the Reagan family, the culture that was already established.” Still, she emphasized: “I love it, because we’re going to get close with another family, the Silvers, which is also another prominent law enforcement family and that’s where Lena Silver is from,” and noted: “It’s very similar to the Reagans. I mean they couldn’t be more different, but they are also so similar.”