It’s been over a year since Blue Bloods ended and, in some ways, it's still hard to believe the long-running show is no longer on the air. Luckily, the show's fictional universe is still expanding with spinoff Boston Blue, which returns this week as part of the 2026 TV schedule. The series, which has already been renewed for a second season, sees Donnie Wahlberg reprising his role as Detective Danny Reagan, now of the Boston PD. Of course, this new era for the character came after Wahlberg had already said goodbye to him when wrapping on the parent show.
After it was announced that Blue Bloods would be ending, fans and much of the cast campaigned for another season. Wahlberg was among those who fought for BB to continue, and he recently recalled to Us Weekly just how disappointed he truly was with the cancellation and how down he was when he realized there was no hope for another season:
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. I fought tooth and nail to save Blue Bloods. I did everything I could.
Obviously, in this TV landscape, some shows would be lucky to go beyond a second or third season, so the fact that Blue Bloods managed to get 14 seasons is impressive. Still, that fact is a big reason why the cancellation hurt fans so much, and it also didn't help that the decision seemed to come out of nowhere. While Wahlberg did not reveal exactly what happened in his conversations with CBS executives at the time, it's cool knowing that he fought for the show's future in such a passionate way.
Even with the cancellation, there had been rumors floating around that a spinoff or TV movie could happen. Some of the cast even thrown out ideas as to where their characters would be in a new show. As Wahlberg revealed, he had a specific concept that, in hindsight, tracks with Boston Blue:
I used to throw the idea around of Danny going somewhere totally different, far away.
Blue Bloods wrapped in the summer of 2024, with the series finale airing that December. So, by that time, Wahlberg had said goodbye to Danny not once but twice and also had to say goodbye to the cast and crew he’d worked with for over a decade. I can only imagine how hard it was for Wahlberg to have to come to terms with the fact that that part of his life was over. So how did he respond when the opportunity to do a sequel series cropped up? Here's what he said:
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.
Of course, it also wasn’t a straight no, either. It's understandable as to why the New Kids on the Block co-founder had to think about the possibility of a spinoff. The decision to do Boston and contending with the notion that Danny would leave New York did get "easier" for Wahlberg, though, and he explained the reason for that:
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.
It might have initially been hard for Donnie Wahlberg to sign on for Boston Blue, but his choices seem to be paying off, given the show's success. The Blue Bloods cancellation and spinoff green light seemed to cause some emotional whiplash but, in the end, I'm glad it resulted in new adventures for Danny and more family dinners (but with the Silvers this time).
Boston Blue's midseason premiere airs Friday, February 27 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS, and episodes can also be streamed next day with a Paramount+ subscription.
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