NEED TO KNOW
Boston Blue fans may not want to get their hopes up for a Frank Reagan appearance, at least for now.
Tom Selleck offered a candid response when asked if he’d ever reprise his Blue Bloods character in CBS’ new spinoff during an interview with Hour Detroit on Tuesday, Nov. 11.
The actor, 80, previously played the role of the Reagan family patriarch for 14 seasons on the network, from 2010 to 2024. CBS first announced its decision to cancel Blue Bloods in November 2023, over a year before announcing Boston Blue — the Boston-centered spinoff starring Donnie Wahlberg — would arrive in 2025. The show officially debuted in October.
“I don’t know if I would do Boston Blue. That’s another show,” Selleck said.
He added, “I think it’s partly my lot in life to make sure Blue Bloods has its place in television history, but I don’t think it’s my lot in life to keep playing Frank Reagan.”
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While Selleck noted that he “can’t predict the future,” he did share that he was eyeing to star in a comedy at some point after he’s “done a few that were successful.” Among Selleck’s comedies, he has previously appeared in Friends, as well as the 1987 film Three Men and a Baby and its 1990 sequel.
Reflecting on Blue Bloods’ cancellation, the Emmy winner called the ordeal a “huge disappointment” and reiterated he still doesn’t “know why CBS did it.”
“When we went off the air, we were the No. 6 show out of 100 on broadcast television,” he told Hour Detroit. “It was actually No. 9, but if you get rid of the football, we were the sixth most popular series in all of television. I’ve been on a lot of sets that were miserable where the cast didn’t like each other, but in Blue Bloods, everyone was professional and everyone liked each other. That is so rare.”
This isn’t Selleck’s first time expressing his feelings about Blue Bloods being pulled. In October 2024, the Magnum, P.I. alum told TV Insider that he was “kind of frustrated” that his time as the fictional NYPD police commissioner came to an end.
“My frustration is the show was always taken for granted because it performed from the get-go,” he said. “So how do I feel? It’s going to take a long time to sort all of this out. I remember after the weekend [of the final episode’s shoot], I said, ‘I’ve got to get to bed early tonight because I have to do my dialogue for Monday.’ Well, there was no Monday.”
“It’s just going to take a while,” Selleck added.
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Wahlberg, 56, who played Selleck’s TV son Danny during the show’s 14-year run and has since reprised the role in Boston Blue, floated a Selleck appearance to Parade in June and noted that “New York and Boston are really close.” He also told the outlet that he “spoke to Tom the minute I was deciding if this was something I was going to do.”
“And I can’t really get into the details of those conversations, but he’s been very supportive,” Wahlberg said.
“I can say, would I love for Tom to come up to Boston? Sure. Or would I love Danny to go to New York and visit Frank? Absolutely, yes,” he added. “Tom’s always going to base his decisions on the work and material, and so yes, of course, I’d love to work with him on the show, and when the time comes, we will hopefully craft an idea that moves his heart and makes him want to do it.”
Blue Bloods cast members who have appeared in Boston Blue so far have also included both Marisa Ramirez and Bridget Moynahan, while Mika Amonsen took over the role of Danny’s son Sean from Blue Bloods alum Andrew Terraciano.
Boston Blue airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS. Episodes are available the following day to watch on-demand via Paramount+.
