When Mika Amonsen took over the role of Sean Reagan in the Blue Bloods spinoff, Boston Blue, he knew there would be backlash. Andrew Terraciano played Sean on Blue Bloods, with his brother, Tony Terraciano, playing Jack Reagan. The spinoff’s creators decided to recast the role for the new iteration. Amonsen tells TV Insider that he hopes Andrew Terraciano can see the respect for his performance that he puts into the character — and that he reads everything viewers say about him on Reddit.
Boston Blue stars Donnie Wahlberg, reprising his role as Danny Reagan, who has moved from New York to Boston to be close to his son, Sean, who’s now a rookie cop at the Boston Police Department. Sean became close with fellow rookie cop Jonah Silver (Marcus Scribner), who also comes from a law enforcement family. The Silver family is made up of rookie Jonah, Detective Lena Silver (Sonequa Martin-Green), BPD Superintendent Sarah Silver (Maggie Lawson), Boston District Attorney Mae Silver (Gloria Reuben), and Reverend Peters (Ernie Hudson). They’re essentially the Reagans of Boston, and they’ve taken Danny and Sean in as part of their family.
Amonsen says he “never felt nervous” about the recasting when he booked the role.
“Even reading reviews and people posting negativity, it didn’t bother me,” Amonsen says. “I knew that I could only do the best that I could do to honor what Andrew did, to respect the Sean that everyone liked, and do as much justice as I could while bringing myself into the role, and that there would be pushback. I anticipated it all. And so, I haven’t been too fazed by it.”
“I hoped that Andrew would see it and understand that I did that, and that fans [who] really enjoyed the show, who pay attention, could understand and see that I was doing that,” he continues. “And then there’s going to be the people that don’t want to understand, and that’s OK.”
When asked how much negativity he’s seen, Amonsen says, “Oh, I’ve read it all,” and that Wahlberg constantly warns him to stay off social media.
“Donnie’s always on my case. ‘Why are you reading that, son?! You shouldn’t be reading that,’” Amonsen says with a smile while impersonating Wahlberg (fairly well, we might add). “It doesn’t affect me, I’m good. He’s like, ‘You shouldn’t be on there. You shouldn’t be on Reddit.’”
He says he reads through “Sean Reagan Reddit” because he “likes to see what I can improve on, if there’s notes,” but he jokes that he hasn’t seen any constructive criticism yet.
“It’s just like, ‘This guy sucks!’” he laughs. “I’m like, ‘OK.’”
Boston Blue is on a break for March Madness. When it returns on April 3, Len Cariou will guest star as Henry Reagan.