Blue Bloods’ Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg on Cancelling, Saying Goodbye

Are the Reagans really saying goodbye after 293 episodes? Well, not if the cast of “Blue Bloods” could help it.

Ever since news broke that season 14 of the cop drama would be its last, Tom Selleck, Donnie Wahlberg and several cast members have been vocal about wanting to continue.

But before we get to the end, let’s start from the beginning.

In 2010, CBS almost passed on the police drama. “They did 10 pilots that year, and it was the last one they picked up, but also the highest test they did,” recalls Selleck, who sat across from Wahlberg for our interview. A big reason why he thinks it was green – the legendary producer Leonard Goldberg.

“Tom and Leonard were two titans of television. Sorry to embarrass you, Dad,” adds Wahlberg, looking at Selleck, who has played his father’s Commissioner Frank Reagan on all 14 seasons. “I think their reputation , talent and commitment to excellence gave the show a chance.”

“I was told on Friday before the premiere that it would not go on air. And then on Sunday I got a call,” Wahlberg recalls, noting that he was on the road with New Kids on the Block at the time. “I was with my band on our cruise with 3,000 fans and they were trying to get me on the sea and said, ‘You have to be in New York beforehand tomorrow’.”

Selleck remembers it like it was yesterday. And remember that it wasn’t exactly a nice ticket to get on Friday night at 10 p.m. “Imagine if you told CBS when we started in 2010, ‘Here’s a show you can put on at your worst time. You don’t have to promote it and it’ll win the night for 15 years.’ It’s pretty neat!”

Selleck met Wahlberg once before filming the pilot episode in Toronto. The day filming began, he met Bridget Moynahan (Erin Reagan) and Will Estes (Jamie Reagan) and they all became a family. It wasn’t easy – but one thing was clear: The Reagans belonged in New York City. So it was time for everyone to move.

Selleck had committed to his family in Los Angeles, but agreed to travel back and forth. “It was worth commuting for 15 years every other week,” he says. The Reagan dinner scenes where each member joined the table were extremely important to him; it’s a scene in every episode.

When Selleck first read the pilot, he warned Goldberg about the dinner scenes, telling him, “The network is going to screw it up, they’re going to cut the hell out of it.” Goldberg promised they wouldn’t. And he kept his word.

“I was scared to death (at first),” Selleck admits. “The director called me the night before and he said, ‘I think you should do a New York accent.’ And I said, ‘I don’t have that in my bag of tricks. If you wanted it, you should told me six months ago or six weeks ago!’ So that’s all I could think of. They all sound great. I sound stupid!”

But Frank never sounded stupid. And Selleck, “from day one, fought for the integrity of the show,” Wahlberg says.

“The show could have gone in any number of directions after it was shot and Tom said, ‘Listen. It’s about family first and foremost.’ New York. And he said, “That’s ridiculous!”

Selleck explains that Frank originally had to stand in front of a green screen every week and run operations. But the veteran actor knew that this was not what the role of a commissioner looked like – and not what the show was supposed to entail.

It’s been five months since filming wrapped, with a two-episode finale set for December 13, but it hasn’t sunk in for either of them that the show is over. Wahlberg chokes back tears throughout the interview as Selleck admits he’s not sure what’s next.

When CBS warned them that season 14 would be the end, it was originally set for 10 episodes to air last spring. “It really looked like the handwriting was on the wall,” Selleck says, so he went to CBS and found a way to convince them that they would actually save money if they did eight more episodes. After some convincing, they cut the final season into two parts — 10 hours aired last spring and eight this fall. “The show deserved a legacy we’re proud of.”

I bring rumors and reports of a possible spinoff, but Selleck is still confused about CBS pulling the plug.

“I can’t figure out why they didn’t start streaming it, doing 10 episodes a year. But I’m not the boss. Everyone wanted to come back. And I think with this cast it would have been a gift to the audience,” he says. “I don’t make those decisions. I’m ready to celebrate and celebrate this show, but I’m still getting used to it.”

They are all still getting used to it. Filming the finale didn’t even feel real. The last scene to be filmed was, ironically, a funeral. But it was the penultimate scene – the family gathered around the dinner table one last time – that brought everyone to tears.

“Throughout those 14 years, at critical moments — not just in the show’s existence, but in the state of our country — Tom had a knack for showing up at work and delivering a message, and often, not even in his own words. He would quote different things to give us something to think about and focus on what’s important,” Wahlberg recalls, gushing. “When they said, ‘It’s a wrap,’ we were all waiting. ”

Then Selleck read Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Love Is Not All,” a poem that has held an important place in his heart for decades, which felt fitting. It wasn’t planned, but it came to him in the moment.

“I’ve always loved it,” he says. In fact, he recalls once reading it to Tyne Daly after she made a guest appearance on “Magnum PI” in 1982.

This time the room cried before he could even finish it.

“I didn’t get through; I was doomed,’ laughs Wahlberg and wipes his eyes. “But when Tom began to say it, literally, my life passed before my eyes. I listened to his voice hypnotize this room and thought what a magical journey and what a gift that this boy, who did not know where his next meal had to come from half the time, in this junk family, who grew up watching this man on TV, sitting next to him and sharing this magical moment of his wisdom and grace. I couldn’t stop the tears in two days more!”

Over the years, many great conversations have taken place around that table, both during the filming and outside of it. “Blue Bloods” has been on the air through three different US presidencies and is a show about a family of cops; of course there have been talks about politics. And some members of the Reagan family hold opposing views.

“They don’t all blend in with each other just because they’re family. I think there was always a respect,” says Selleck, who also believes in keeping his personal views on politics to himself. “I can only answer for myself , but blowing your own horn about your own personal problem… why do you want to piss off half the country? We are actors.”

The show was also good at showing multiple points of view. “We dealt with a lot of issues on both sides and we’re proud of that, but we didn’t rip them from the headlines like some shows do,” he adds. “I can honestly say that I’m not sure that Frank Reagan and I vote the same way all the time, and it’s a good thing when you embrace those views.”

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It is difficult to answer the question of what is next. For Selleck, he has no plans to stop working.

“I’m not retiring. I’ve got a mortgage; I’ve got a ranch that I love and I love the work. Look, I’m not exactly a spring chicken in the business,” he says, aware that “the phone can stop to call” anytime. For now, he’s looking ahead. “I’m still adjusting. I’d like to think someone will think of something else. A comedy would be nice.”

Wahlberg and Selleck agree that they have learned a lot from their characters and hope to only continue to do so. In addition, Wahlberg has been inspired by Danny’s commitment to his family.

“It’s not because I’m not committed to my family, but I live in a different state than my siblings. I think when you come from a big family you can stay close, but my career has taken me all over the world and it still does, he says. “My sister always calls and says, ‘Come on, mom’s gone now, let’s all fly to Boston and have Thanksgiving.'” A lot of times I think, ‘That’s a long flight. I’ve been flying back and forth, filming and taking on tour. I just want to sit at home and put on the fire and be with my wife and my dogs.’ Maybe I should hop on a plane and do a little more of those sibling occasions and encourage Mark (Wahlberg) to get on a plane and do the same.”

He’s also busy work-wise, as New Kids on the Block just announced a Las Vegas residency in 2025. But what about the next acting gig?

“It feels like I’m reading a movie script, I’m negotiating to do a deal for the movie, and I go to my agent’s office, and I keep looking back over my shoulder hoping that someone from ‘Blue Bloods’ is chasing me down the street saying, ‘Wait, we’re doing one more season,'” he says. “A lot of times in TV, 14 years later, people are running for the exit. We’re all trying to move on now to the next thing, but I think we all have that feeling of just going back and hoping someone is going to say, ‘Don’t sign that contract. Wait a minute!'”

I’ll bring up the idea of ​​a spinoff again before we wrap up. One idea Selleck had was for Frank to retire, move north and lead a small police force.

“I said, ‘That’s really good, but I’m going to do another ‘Jesse Stone’ movie. I’m going to write that,” he says of the character, who played in nine movies, eight of which aired on CBS, the ninth on Hallmark.

Plus, would a spinoff really work, focusing on one or two characters and not the whole family — the heart of what “Blue Bloods” is about?

“It will be a very delicate dance to maintain that integrity. Where will the family be? They can’t be in New York. I would probably drive to New York from Ohio if I were Danny to go to every dinner and back,” Wahlberg says of his character. “Until we know there’s absolutely no way this show can be resurrected in any way, I think we’re all moving forward… but taking a look back.”

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Selleck’s Groomer: Helen Robertson via Philip B/Cloutier Remix