Blue Bloods' cancellation was a real bummer, and it was something that no one in the cast wanted to happen. However, the Reagan family’s story gets to continue with Donnie Wahlberg’s spinoff Boston Blue, thankfully. Now, the lead actor is opening up about the struggle of making TV right now, the changes at CBS, and what they’re doing to hopefully find success with this new series.
The crew of Boston Blue has been hard at work this summer crafting its first season. The same is true for a bunch of network shows preparing for their premieres on the 2025 TV schedule. However, there are only a few who are working on their freshman seasons, as Wahlberg explained on Billy & Lisa in the Morning:
The TV and movie industry has really been beat up from COVID and the strike, and I think a lot – you know, CBS, for example, used to make like 20 shows a year. They're making two this year, new shows, and I'm on one of them. And it's really dire straits financially, you know, in the industry.
Technically, Wahlberg’s comment isn’t fully correct. On CBS’s 2025-2026 lineup, DMV, CIA and Sheriff Country are all scripted shows that will start their first seasons in the fall, like Boston Blue, with the Yellowstone spinoff Y: Marshals coming early next year. However, I see his point, as the network also has a dozen returning scripted shows – with Ghosts even getting a two-season pickup.
This led the actor into a discussion about how they’re filming Boston Blue and the challenges that come with it. It sadly costs too much to film it all on location, so they have to shoot a lot of it in Canada, which has become the standard for many shows, including CBS programs like Ghosts, Fire Country and Sheriff Country, for example.
Explaining why they have to do that, the Blue Bloods actor said:
So I'm really fortunate to be making a show. I'm really fortunate to be able to go to Boston and work at all. But you know, when I initially was offered a job, I said, ‘We've got to go to Boston.’ They said, ‘We can't afford it.’ It's basically 30 cents on a dollar to film in Canada right now, compared to you know, 80 cents on a dollar, 90 cents from a dollar, even with tax breaks.
However, despite the financial struggles the industry is facing at the moment, Wahlberg was still able to film some of Boston Blue in Boston.
He explained that he fought for that too, especially since he’s from there; it was important that they depicted the city accurately. He said:
But I said, ‘We have to go to Boston. I can't not go to Boston.’ So the plan right now is to do the interiors up here and go to Boston every couple of weeks and do what we did, and put a crew together, a Boston crew, and go down and film all over the city. And you know, you can't fake what Boston looks like. And you know, we're bringing Boston actors up here to guest in the shows.
Overall, the long-term goal is to eventually move the full production to Massachusetts. And between Blue Bloods being fully filmed in and around New York City (where it took place) and Boston being the actor’s hometown, his desire to go there full-time for his spinoff makes perfect sense.
So, while shooting the exteriors there is nice, that’s not the dream, as the Danny Reagan actor said:
We’re doing everything we can, and hopefully, in success, we can be in Boston more. That’s the goal.
As I mentioned, his “dream of all dreams” is to move the show to its titular city full-time. However, for now, they’re working to compromise and make it work, because, as the actor stated, making TV is hard.
Hopefully, though, they can fulfill this goal of filming Boston Blue in Boston fully, and the series can have a long life like its predecessor (just without the cancellation). To help it do just that, be sure to tune into the Blue Bloods spinoff on CBS on Friday, October 17 at 10 p.m. ET or stream it the next day with a Paramount+ subscription.
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