Donnie Wahlberg will keep Blue Bloods’ legacy alive in Boston Blue, a forthcoming spinoff of the popular CBS police procedural, which ended its 14-season run in December 2024.
CBS announced the spinoff this week, revealing that Wahlberg would once again slip into the uniform of Danny Reagan, an NYPD detective unafraid to bend the rules in the name of justice. The twist? He’ll be relocating from New York City to Boston, far from his family of law enforcement veterans, which includes Tom Selleck’s Frank Reagan and Bridget Moynahan’s Erin Reagan.
Executive produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, KristieAnne Reed, and Wahlberg, the spinoff’s showrunners will be Brandon Sonnier and Brandon Margolis, who previously worked on The Blacklist and L.A.’s Finest.
Here’s everything we know about Boston Blue so far, including its plot, cast, and premiere date.
What is Boston Blue about?
The Blue Bloods spinoff follows Wahlberg’s hotheaded detective Danny Reagan, the oldest living son of NYPD Commissioner Frank Reagan (Selleck). Though he spent the majority of his life living in (and policing) the Big Apple, the new series will transport him to Boston.
He’ll be paired with a detective named Lena Peters, described in a CBS press release as “the eldest daughter of a prominent law enforcement family.” (That should give the duo plenty to discuss.)
We don’t much outside of that, but it’s likely Danny will be forced to reckon with both the perils of the street and the politics of an all-new department, one where he won’t have the advocates he did back home.
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It’s also possible that the spinoff will have a romantic component. It was revealed in the Blue Bloods season 8 premiere that Danny’s wife had died offscreen in a helicopter crash, and by the series finale, he appeared ready to find someone new. After making a promise to his grandfather, Henry (Len Cariou), that he’d try and settle down, he asked his partner, Maria Baez (Marisa Ramirez), out for pizza. Perhaps she’ll follow him to Boston? Or maybe he’ll still be looking for love in Beantown.
What has Donnie Wahlberg said about the Blue Bloods spinoff?
Wahlberg hyped the new series in a March 25 Instagram post, writing, “So excited to carry on the tradition, to share so many surprises, to answer some unanswered questions and to welcome all of you — to! The next chapter in the #BlueBloods legacy begins. I can’t wait.”
He concluded the post with a confirmation that the series will premiere on CBS in the fall.
Previously, Wahlberg spoke about Danny’s potential future in an interview with Entertainment Weekly ahead of the Blue Bloods finale.
“I would say I would have Danny Reagan walk right into his next chapter of his life, maybe in a different place doing a similar job and perhaps with someone from the current cast,” he said. “But I want him to not be too far from the family so that he could still see them and spend time with them, but maybe to see what life has in store for him now that his boys have gone off and he’s empty nesting and his wife’s gone. Maybe he can see what the future holds for him on his own. As long as he can visit the family sometimes. Does that sound like a tease for a spinoff?”
It does! And it sounds like the creators took some of his notes. Does that mean we’ll get visits from his Blue Bloods friends and family? We’ll have to wait and see.
Which Blue Bloods characters appear in Boston Blue?
As of this writing, Wahlberg’s Danny Reagan is the only member of the Blue Bloods cast slated to return for Boston Blue. That, of course, doesn’t mean he’ll be riding solo.
The press release for Boston Blue, for example, calls the show a “universe expansion” of Blue Bloods, which indicates an openness to include characters from the original show. And, as Selleck made abundantly clear ahead of the Blue Bloods finale, the cast wasn’t prepared for the show to end.
“We’re the third-highest scripted show in all of broadcast. We’re winning the night. All the cast wants to come back,” he said last year, expressing his frustration with the show’s cancellation. “And I can tell you this: We aren’t sliding off down a cliff. We’re doing good shows, and still holding our place. So, I don’t know.”
He wasn’t alone, either. Wahlberg and costar Bridget Moynahan admitted to feeling “upset and sad” about the series’ conclusion. “We’ve created such a family on set with each other and the crew,” said Moynahan. “Most of the crew’s been with us for 14 years, so we’ve been through a lot of weddings, births, deaths, and everything. We’ve been through it all with each other.”
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That said, it would be surprising for Selleck’s Frank Reagan to wind up in Boston. As the actor put it to EW when we asked about the future of his character, he said Frank would be “commissioner till he drops.”
But it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Frank could get his own spinoff. Brian Robbins, Paramount’s co-CEO, has made it clear he’s keen on franchise extensions for the company’s most popular properties, including Blue Bloods. There’s no reason they have to stop at just one. (They sure didn’t for the company’s Dexter franchise, which is now comprised of Dexter: New Blood, Dexter: Original Sin, and Dexter: Resurrection, not to mention a potential spinoff about season 4’s Trinity Killer. Whew!)
