According to a report in Entertainment Weekly, St. Charles resident and NKOTB founder Donnie Wahlberg and his fans got some good news recently. He will be the lead in a long-discussed spin-off of the hit series Blue Bloods beginning this fall.
The working title of the series is Boston Blue.
In the new series,. Wahlberg will reprise his popular roll as Danny Reagan, an old school, tough-as-nails New York Detective with a big heart. It is unclear how or if the plot will incorporate any former characters from the Blue Bloods ensemble, and speculation about Tom Selleck’s involvement as NYPD Police Commissioner Frank Reagan is rampant.
Selleck, among others, was vocal in his disappointment with the cancellation of Blue Bloods last season, wondering why a series that remained so wildly popular would be shut down. According to Selleck and others, the tight-knit cast and crew, most of whom had remained with the show for it’s entire 14-year run, were eager to continue. It remains unclear what role, if any, they will play in the new series.
In an interview on the Fox Valley Justa Coupla Guys podcast last December, Wahlberg, in discussing a possible spin-off, addressed some of the challenges associated with creating a new storyline around Danny Reagan.
“I would love keep working in New York with the crew of Blue Bloods,” he mused. “But then I think, how could I do a spin-off in New York without seeing the Reagan family? Where would they be? Why wouldn’t I go to dinner with them on Sundays? So now New York is kind of out of the equation. And that [also] takes out Philadelphia, New Jersey, Connecticut…right? So it would have to be thought out very carefully.”
Apparently, Danny Reagan has indeed found a new home – in Boston.
The new show will air on CBS. All 14 seasons of Blue Bloods are currently available on Paramount+.
