Donnie Wahlberg’s Blue Bloods Offshoot Recruits Beloved Ghostbusters Star

Big casting news has been revealed for Boston Blue, the upcoming Blue Bloods offshoot that brings back original series star Donnie Wahlberg. Set to air this fall, taking over the Friday 10 PM time slot previously held by Blue Bloods, Boston Blue will see Wahlberg reprising his role as Danny Reagan.

Per Deadline, it’s just been revealed that one of Wahlberg’s new co-stars will include Ghostbusters legend Ernie Hudson. His casting follows the addition of Sonequa Martin-Green (Star Trek: Discovery). The show picks up after Danny takes a position with Boston PD with Detective Lena Silver (Martin-Green) serving as his new partner. Lena is the eldest daughter of a prominent law enforcement family, not dissimilar to the Reagans in Blue Bloods.

Hudson is playing Reverend Peters, a renowned pastor of a Baptist church and the grandfather of Det. Lena Silver. He is also the father of Mae Silver, Boston’s District Attorney, as well as the grandfather of Superintendent Ashley Silver and rookie patrol cop Isaac Silver. It’s not yet known who will be cast in those roles. Hudson’s Reverend Peters is further described as an “open-minded, welcoming man that is comfortable in all traditions, he is happy to preside at his church’s traditional Sunday Baptist service.”

Ernie Hudson Lands His Next Big TV Series Role

Hudson, who also recently starred in the BET series The Family Business, is returning to the small screen with the casting. It follows his run in NBC’s Quantum Leap reboot, which came to an end after two seasons last year. Hudson may be best known for his popular role as Winston Zeddemore in the Ghostbusters franchise, which includes a 2024 return in the movie Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. It was recently announced that the actor will also be voicing Combat Carl in Toy Story 5, taking over the role from the late Carl Weathers.

Boston Blue is being executive produced by showrunners Brandon Sonnier and Brandon Margolis alongside Jerry Bruckheimer, KristieAnne Reed, and Donnie Wahlberg. Anthony Hemingway is also set to direct and executive produce the pilot. CBS Studios is producing in association with Jerry Bruckheimer TV.

“I can’t tell a lot of stuff about it other than at this point, I’m very humbled to be producing the show with Jerry Bruckheimer and some incredible writers and producers known as the Brandons,” Wahlberg said of the new show on the Morning Magic podcast. “It’s an honor to keep the Blue Bloods tradition alive, and I think that’s what I’ll be doing with the show.”

On possible appearances from Blue Bloods stars, he also teased, “It will be a Danny Reagan-based show, but the Reagans are only a phone call away, and Danny Reagan likes to use the phone, that’s all I’ll say,”