Donnie Wahlberg’s Blue Bloods Offshoot Recruits an ER Star

The Blue Bloods universe will continue this fall with the highly anticipated spinoff Boston Blue. Donnie Wahlberg is reprising his role as Danny Reagan, and he will be joined by an ensemble cast that now includes former ER star Gloria Reuben.

According to Deadline, Reuben has been cast as Mae Silver, described as “Boston’s District Attorney and the matriarch of a blended family of law enforcement professionals. The widow of a judge who was murdered on the courthouse steps, Mae endeavors to put family ahead of work whenever possible. Her daughter Lena is a Boston Police Department Detective, and her stepdaughter Sarah is the Police Superintendent. Her son Jonah is a rookie cop; her father is Reverend Peters. Mae is accustomed to making decisions and standing by them.” Boston Blue will serve as Reuben’s return to the Blue Bloods universe. She previously played ATF Agent Rachel Weber in a two-episode arc on the original series back in 2021.

Reuben is best known for portraying Jeanie Boulet in the first six seasons of the medical drama ER, receiving two Emmy nominations for her performance. Her other major credits include Mr. Robot, Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, City on a Hill, and Cloak & Dagger. She was most recently seen in the 2025 comedy-drama film My Dead Friend Zoe opposite Sonequa Martin-Green, who coincidentally has been cast to play her character’s daughter, Lena Silver, in Boston Blue. Reuben also played Martin-Green’s character’s mother in My Dead Friend Zoe.

Who Else Is Starring in Boston Blue?

Similar to Blue Bloods, Boston Blue will center around a multi-generational family with ties to law enforcement, only instead of the Reagans, it will be the Silvers, led by patriarch Reverend Peters, who will be portrayed by Ghostbusters franchise star Ernie Hudson. The only other cast member who has been announced for the offshoot is former Psych star Maggie Lawson, who will portray Mae’s step-daughter, Sarah Silver.

CBS first teased a spinoff of Blue Bloods back in July 2024, with CBS Studios President David Stapf confirming that there had been discussion about extending the brand beyond the mothership series. In February 2025, Wahlberg was reported to be reprising his role as Danny Reagan in Boston Blue, which was originally not conceived as a spinoff of Blue Bloods, with series creators Brandon Sonnier and Brandon Margolis pitching the cop drama to CBS as a standalone project following a family of police officers in Boston whose eldest daughter gets partnered with a new transfer from the LAPD.

However, after a script was ordered and well-received internally at CBS, the decision was made to set Boston Blue in the Blue Bloods universe, with the LAPD transfer being swapped out for NYPD Officer Danny Reagan, who will take a position with the Boston Police Department and be paired with Martin-Green’s Detective Lena Silver.

Blue Bloods is available to stream on Paramount+. Boston Blue is set to premiere this fall on CBS, airing in Blue Bloods‘ old Friday 10 PM time slot.