The rumored Blue Bloods franchise expansion is official. Donnie Wahlberg will reprise his role as Danny Reagan in Boston Blue (working title), and the offshoot’s new casting includes who will be playing Danny’s new partner in Bean Town — Star Trek: Discovery‘s Sonequa Martin-Green as Detective Lena Peters — and her mother, Gloria Reuben, as was revealed on Tuesday, June 10.
Wahlberg and Martin-Green announced the latter’s casting themselves at a CBS press event in Los Angeles on Wednesday, May 7, per Variety. The CBS fall 2025-2026 schedule was also revealed the same day. That confirmed its Fall 2025 premiere window.
As you can tell by the name, this series has a new location, and that’s not the only major change. There’s still no word on whether or not Marisa Ramirez‘s Detective Maria Baez will be involved at all. After the Blue Bloods series finale hinted at a possible romance between Danny and Baez after years of fan speculation, this is an unexpected development.
Here’s everything there is to know about Boston Blue so far.
When does Boston Blue premiere?
Boston Blue will air on Fridays at 10/9c on CBS starting this fall. Blue Bloods occupied the same time slot. Preceding Boston Blue on CBS Friday nights are Fire Country at 8/7c and Sheriff Country at 9/8c. An exact Boston Blue premiere date will be announced at a later time.
What is the Blue Bloods offshoot, Boston Blue, about?
Boston Blue (working title) has a straight-to-series order, CBS announced on Tuesday, February 18 (the Blue Bloods series finale aired in December 2024). The new series is billed as a franchise expansion, not a spinoff, and is written by Brandon Sonnier and Brandon Margolis and will see NYPD Officer Danny Reagan take a new position with the Boston PD. The offshoot is keeping the family-oriented details alive with Danny’s new partner, Detective Lena Peters, who is the eldest daughter of a prominent law enforcement family. Reagan is the oldest living Reagan sibling.
Who is in the Boston Blue cast?
Wahlberg — who is also an executive producer on the series — was the first star announced. Martin-Green was the second.
Wahlberg said in a statement on May 7 that when it came to Detective Peters’ casting, Martin-Green was “not the first choice — the only choice.” His statement also implies that new Reagan family members from Boston are going to be prominent in this new series.
“One thing about Blue Bloods and how beloved it was is because there are so many law enforcement families in this country. There’s not just the Reagans,” Wahlberg said, per Variety. “They’re in every state, every city, every town, everywhere, and there are other families around that have stories to tell too. Danny’s story will continue the Reagan family. You can’t have Danny without Reagans — there’ll be connective tissue. But we’re also going to get to discover a new family and carry on the tradition of telling their stories.”
Martin-Green said that the Peters family will be featured as well. She said: “We love the Reagans. We have all loved the Reagans for so long. And I feel that we’ll love the Peters too. I’m super excited for this partnership, and to be back in a CBS family — and in this family, your family. It means a lot, and I’m grateful for it. I think we’re going to have a good time.”
“We love the Reagans. We have all loved the Reagans for so long,” Martin-Green said about the central “Blue Bloods” family. “And I feel that we’ll love the Peters too. I’m super excited for this partnership, and to be back in a CBS family — and in this family, your family. It means a lot, and I’m grateful for it. I think we’re going to have a good time.”
Ernie Hudson‘s casting as the Silver family patriarch, Reverend Peters, a renowned pastor of an historic Baptist church in Boston, was revealed on May 16 (via Deadline). He’s described as “an open-minded, welcoming man that is comfortable in all traditions [who] is happy to preside at his church’s traditional Sunday Baptist service. Reverend Peters is the father of Mae Silver, Boston’s District Attorney, and grandfather of Det. Lena Silver (Martin-Green), Superintendent Ashley Silver, and rookie patrol cop, Isaac Silver.”
Deadline, on June 2, also reported that Maggie Lawson will star in the series as Sarah Silver, the Boston Police Department’s superintendent who is also Lena’s stepsister.
Gloria Reuben, who previously appeared as an ATF agent in two episodes of Blue Bloods, is set to star in the series regular role of “Mae Silver, Boston’s District Attorney and the matriarch of a blended family of law enforcement professionals,” according to Deadline. “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.”
Is Maria Baez in Boston Blue?
Donnie Wahlberg as Danny Reagan and Marisa Ramirez as Maria Baez in ‘Blue Bloods’ Season 14 Episode 11 – ‘Life Sentence’
Baez is not a confirmed character for Boston Blue as of the time of publication.
After years of fans thinking there was a romantic spark between partners Danny and Baez, Danny finally asked Baez out in the series finale. He was making good on a promise to his grandfather, Henry Reagan (Len Cariou), who wanted to see his widowed grandson find love again. Wahlberg himself advocated for this romantic ending for Danny and Baez.
“I think that was a lot of me really pushing,” Wahlberg told Variety following the series finale. “I pushed a lot for some closure with that. I went to [writer] Siobhan O’Connor, and I was like, ‘Listen, you’ve got to do something. They don’t need to go get married, but something would be nice, just to show that there may be a future for them, or that their relationship has really evolved.’”
Boston Blue is produced by CBS Studios in association with JBTV. Sonnier and Margolis will showrun and executive produce. Jerry Bruckheimer, KristieAnne Reed, and Wahlberg will also serve as executive producers.
Sonnier and Margolis hail from The Blacklist and S.W.A.T. They started in the NBC Writers on the Verge program (now NBCU LAUNCH). After five seasons on The Blacklist, they developed and showran L.A.’s Finest, the Sony and JBTV-produced Bad Boys spinoff starring Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba, which ran for two seasons on Spectrum before subsequent successful runs on Fox and Netflix. “The Brandons” are currently executive producers on the upcoming third season of Fox’s missing persons procedural
