Donnie Wahlberg will soon be back in primetime on CBS in the 2025 TV schedule, but not for another season of Blue Bloods in New York City. He reprises his role as Danny Reagan for Boston Blue, a Blue Bloods spinoff with an almost entirely new cast and set in – where else? – Boston. The switch in locales hasn't been tough on the actor, as he grew up in that bustling area of Massachusetts, and he took it upon himself to play tour guide for some of his new costars in the city.
While the actor admitted that it's "tricky" to play a New Yorker as a native Bostonian back in his hometown, he definitely proved that he hasn't lost touch with his roots while chatting about the Red Sox on Intentional Talk. Wearing a Red Sox jersey after gushing about getting to film in Fenway Park, Donnie Wahlberg went on to share how he's helped some of the Boston Blue stars in getting to know the city:
I’m playing tour guide like crazy. I took out two of our younger castmates. I took them to North End, to Strega the other night. And then my nephews showed up, and my two nephews took my two castmates, who are both in their mid 20s, to like eight bars in the North End. They got home at 4 a.m. I was with them for a while, [but] I was like, ‘Guys, I’m old. I can’t do this stuff.’ But I’ve showed them all over Dorchester, all over the city. Taking them to eat all over the place, took them to the game Sunday, which was a Sox win, so that was incredible. It’s just been great.
Wahlberg didn't name which costars he took to the North End, but I'm guessing they were Marcus Scribner, the 25-year-old actor playing the brother of Sonequa Martin-Green's Lena Silver, and Mika Amonsen, who plays Danny's son Sean. When Sean was last seen in Blue Bloods, he was in his early 20s, so I'd bet that his actor was out on the town with Donnie Wahlberg. (Sean Reagan was played by Andrew Terraciano on Blue Bloods, with Amonsen joining Boston Blue in a recasting.)
I can imagine that any cast members of Boston Blue probably will have an easier time checking out restaurants and bar-hopping in what remains of the summer before the Blue Bloods arrives in primetime in mid-October. If the spinoff wins the kind of loyal viewers that Blue Bloods earned over the years, then a lot of people may be watching them on Friday nights. Incognito nights out might get a lot harder!
Of course, other cast members of Boston Blue are already quite recognizable. As Detective Lena Silver, Sonequa Martin-Green is fresh off of five seasons of Star Trek: Discovery, which is available streaming now with a Paramount+ subscription, and was already recognizable before Trek thanks to her role as Sasha on The Walking Dead. Ernie Hudson is of course an icon from Ghostbusters, and plays a pastor who is also Lena's grandfather on Boston Blue.
Playing Lena's stepsister Sarah, Maggie Lawson comes to Boston Blue as a main cast member from Psych. Gloria Reuben, whose character of Mae Silver is the district attorney of Boston as well as Lena's mom, appeared in Blue Bloods twice, although as a different character than she plays in the new spinoff. And fear not, Blue Bloods fans, because another familiar face from the original show is slated to appear. Bridget Moynahan will guest star as Erin Reagan.
Boston Blue arrives in primetime on Friday, October 17 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS, inheriting Blue Bloods' longtime time slot. That will be a big night on CBS, with Fire Country Season 4 premiering at 8 p.m. ET, followed by the series premiere of Sheriff Country at 9 p.m. ET.
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