Blue Bloods returned in new form this fall with Boston Blue, the show’s first official spin-off after its cancellation last December, starring Donnie Wahlberg as Detective Danny Reagan.
The spin-off centers around Danny leaving behind New York City and the Reagan family to join his son Sean (now played by Mika Amonsen, replacing Andrew Terraciano) in Boston, where he meets and begins working with their own resident law enforcement family, the Silvers.
© Getty ImagesAt first, the show fielded concern as to why Danny would uproot his entire life in New York to follow his son, now a rookie police officer himself, to a new city. However, Donnie, 56, explained that it was a decision he himself could relate to.
“So many people say, ‘Well, Danny would never leave New York. It’s not believable, and his son wouldn’t want him in Boston’,” he told People. “I have a 24-year-old son and I can’t tell you how many times he’s asked me in the last year to move back to California to be close to him.”
Donnie shares two sons, 24-year-old Elijah and 32-year-old Xavier, with his first wife, Kim Fey. He is also a stepdad to a son, Evan, with his now-wife Jenny McCarthy. In fact, whenever he himself feels reservations about his character’s arc, he thinks back to the texts from Elijah asking him to move and it reinforces his choice.
“There’s no more reason for Danny to leave New York than for his son,” the New Kids on the Block musician affirmed, saying that if both his sons started asking for him to move to California, he and Jenny would happily “start going on realtor.com and figuring things out.”
Speaking of his bond with his sons, both of whom are musicians like their father, Donnie gushed: “I love the relationship I have with my sons, and I do like having fun and bringing a little of that with me to my TV relationship.”
Drawing the difference between himself and Danny, though, he noted: “He’s a lot tougher than I am. I’m definitely bringing some of the softer side to Danny, which is more of a reflection of my parenting.”
© Getty ImagesPreviously, Andrew spoke with Us Weekly about being recast on the show, saying: “It’s beautiful because you’ll always remember every single line and every day that you had the opportunity to be that character,” adding: “It doesn’t mean for even a second that somebody else can’t go and do something beautiful with it.”
© CBSDonnie confirmed in his own conversation how strong of an addition Mika was to the cast, saying: “Mika’s been fantastic. He’s coming into a place, that of another actor, and that’s a challenge. Much like the challenge of me carrying on the Blue Bloods universe without Blue Bloods. I could understand what he was going through and it connected us and bonded us in many ways, and I think that resonates on screen a lot.”
