As CBS‘ prepares to unspool Blue Bloods‘ final eight episodes, Tom Selleck is mulling a return to Paradise.
Years prior to Blue Bloods‘ 2010 debut, Selleck starred in Jesse Stone: Stone Cold, the first of what would be nine made-for-TV movies based on Robert B. Parker’s novels about the titular police chief of Paradise, Mass., a small New England town.
Selleck banked a half-dozen Jesse Stone films before slipping into Frank Reagan’s desk chair at 1PP, then filmed another three (that premiered in May 2011, May 2012 and October 2015). The first eight aired on CBS, and the last one was made for Hallmark Channel.
The TV-movies’ most recent, 10th-anniversary installment, 2015’s Jesse Stone: Lost in Paradise, found police chief Stone agreeing to serve as a consultant on an unsolved murder case in Boston. The local cops suspected “The Boston Ripper,” a killer who was already behind bars, but Stone believed the murderer was a bit closer to home, setting him off on a surprise-filled investigation.
In addition to headlining the franchise, Selleck co-wrote many of the Jesse Stone films, including the last four. For 2007’s Jesse Stone: Sea Change, Selleck received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie — his seventh and most recent Emmy nod. (He won in 1984, for starring as Magnum, P.I.)
Speaking with TV Insider about Blue Bloods‘ imminent swan song and his post-Frank Reagan plans, Selleck nodded that another stint as Jesse Stone has a certain appeal.
“It looks like now I might have to write [a script for another movie],” he said, while noting: “It wouldn’t be a final one because everybody loves it. Jesse is a great character, and it would be fascinating to find out where he is quite a few years later.”
But first, Selleck admitted, “I need to regroup” in the wake of Blue Bloods fading to black. “I don’t know what’s next, but assuming the phone doesn’t stop ringing,” he said, “I’m going to keep working.”
