Leaving behind Blue Bloods after 14 seasons isn’t easy for Donnie Wahlberg, who has played Danny Reagan since the inception of the hit CBS series. In fact, this is the first winter in as many years that he’s had some free time, but he’s filled it with filming the sixth season of his ID series Very Scary People and prepping for the New Kids on the Block Las Vegas residency at Park MGM.
“I’m someone who tries to move on quickly and keep moving forward,” Wahlberg told Parade. “I’ll look back with gratitude, but I look forward always to each new day. I guess, though, with Blue Bloods after 14 years, it’s a lot. We had an amazing time in New York, we had an amazing time working together, and we were part of a show that meant so much to so many people. I try not to say, ‘I’ll never do something that cool ever again,” and I just try to say how lucky am I that I got to do something so cool in my life.”
Even now as the final episode of the series is about to air tonight, Wahlberg doesn’t really understand why the show was canceled. He still loves playing his character and would have continued to do so.
When asked about the possibility of a spinoff, which The Powers That Be at CBS have hinted at, Wahlberg says, “I would certainly be open to carrying on the character, it’s just there’s a lot of things that would have to make sense to do it.”
Among the problems that he sees for a spinoff is the fact that the family is so close and tight-knit that it’s almost impossible to do a show without the whole family showing up.
“Could you have a show with one or two Reagans without the whole family?” he questions. “We’d have to go to dinner every weekend together. How could that not happen? So, it raises the question: Could the spinoff be done?”
The other consideration is that the city of New York itself was a character in the show, and Wahlberg sees finding another city with as interesting a backdrop as New York would be difficult.
“It’s limiting the number of options for sure,” he continues. But that said, he points out, “I also loved every time Danny Reagan got to be a fish out of water, so maybe there is a city where he could end up and be a fish out of water. It gives me a chance to have a little fun every time Danny was in those situations. For example, working with Lyle Lovett, a Texas Ranger. There’s always lots of room for lighthearted fun and stuff like that. So, sure I love the show, and I love the character and I’d be open to a spinoff, but it would take a lot of thought, a lot of mindfulness and have a way to have Reagans visit sometimes.”
In addition to all the wonderful memories Wahlberg has of working with the cast and crew of Blue Bloods for 14 seasons, he also has a few souvenirs. He took Danny Reagan’s blue suit and dress blues, but he also took the Reagan family dinner table.“I just couldn’t see that thing ending up in storage somewhere, or in a closet somewhere, or just dumped somewhere,” he says. “It’s too important to too many people, so when I heard that it was sitting around and they were deciding what to do, I said, ‘Well, if it’s not going to go in the Smithsonian, I’d like to take it and do some good with it.’
The table was shipped to the Illinois town where Wahlberg lives with his wife Jenny McCarthy and his plan is to use it raise money for charity by installing it in the local Wahlburgers.
“I’ll do Blue Bloods Friday dinners there with fans of the show, or fans of my band,” he says. “People can go into Wahlburgers and have a meal and sit down at the table and enjoy themselves and the proceeds will go to charity. That, to me, is a great way to carry on.”
And speaking of his band, New Kids on the Block will begin its Las Vegas residency next June and it isn’t a minute too soon because, according to Wahlberg, the bloom is off the rose when it comes to touring.
“This past year, New Kids toured The Magic Summer Tour on tour buses, and it was rough,” he admits. “Those roads, the buses, it was so bumpy every guy would rarely say that they got a good night’s sleep. It’s pretty funny. We used to sleep through everything when we were kids and now, we feel the bumps. It was rough, so, yeah, waking up and maybe going out of an elevator to go on stage, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
