Bridget Moynahan has booked her first role since Blue Bloods in Dan Fogelman’s highly anticipated NFL drama.
Multiple outlets reported on Monday, March 2, that Moynahan, 54, will play Chris Meloni‘s onscreen ex-wife in The Land. Created and written by Fogelman, The Land is described as a show “set inside the world of the NFL” with a generational family at the center of the story.
Previously announced cast members include Sam Corlett, Tanner Zagarino, William H. Macy, Mandy Moore, Chloe Bennet and Chace Crawford.
“It’s about a football team, nominally the Cleveland Browns. It’s called The Land because that’s what people from Cleveland call it,” Macy, 75, told Deadline in February. “They’re brilliant scripts. They’re Shakespearean. It’s about football, but, oh, my lord, the plots are so profound, and I’m having the time of my life.”
Moynahan’s role on The Land comes after her 14-season run as Erin Reagan on Blue Bloods. The CBS show, which aired from 2010 to 2024, followed the lives of the Reagan family, many of whom work for the NYPD under the leadership of NYC police commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck). Frank’s father, Henry Reagan (Len Cariou), was also central to the show, alongside Frank’s children: daughter Erin Reagan (Moynahan) and sons Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and Jamie Reagan (Will Estes).
After Blue Bloods came to an end, CBS announced a spinoff titled Boston Blue which follows Wahlberg’s character taking a position with the Boston P.D. He is then paired with detective Lena (Sonequa Martin-Green), the eldest daughter of a prominent law enforcement family.
Moynahan, for her part, reprised her character in the series premiere. She has also returned to the TV universe to direct an episode of Boston Blue. Wahlberg, 56, recently spoke exclusively to Us Weekly about trying to keep the Blue Bloods legacy at the center of the Boston Blue spinoff.
“I can assure every viewer out there that nobody was more disappointed than me. Nobody cried more than me. Nobody’s heart was broken more than mine,” Wahlberg shared with Us last month. “I fought tooth and nail to save Blue Bloods. I did everything I could.”
Wahlberg also broke down the decision to return to the role he spent over a decade playing, adding, “I had to go through the process of saying goodbye to our crew and the cast and reconciling the fact that [Blue Bloods] could now be in my rearview mirror. I had to let go of Danny Reagan and Blue Bloods. So when this came along, I had to reevaluate. It wasn’t just a snap decision.”
He continued, “It became an easier decision as I got to work on the pilot script with the Brandons [creators Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier]. I found ways to make it authentic to Danny, make it plausible that he would go to Boston, and find ways to really make Danny a fish out of water.”
