Donnie Wahlberg says Tom Selleck backed his decision to keep the Reagan family story going on Boston Blue, and he says the door is still open for Frank Reagan to show up if the timing, the situation and the script line up.
Wahlberg made the rare comment Wednesday, April 15, at CBS Fest, saying Selleck supported him doing the Blue Bloods spinoff. He said Selleck may want to play Frank again, or may not, but that, as he put it, “it will really depend on the timing, the situation and the script most of all.” Wahlberg added, “[With] Tom, when the time is right, I’m sure we’ll find something to do together [on the show],” and said plainly, “Tom supported me doing this.”
He also suggested Boston Blue is already making room for more familiar faces. “We had Grandpa Reagan. We have a few surprises before the season ends of other Reagans. It’s so great,” Wahlberg said, adding, “Of course, it would be lovely to have Tom. It would be wonderful. But when the time is right. Until then, onward.”
The comments matter because Selleck spent 14 seasons as Frank Reagan, the family patriarch and New York City police commissioner on Blue Bloods, which premiered in 2010 and stayed a steady performer for CBS even as speculation swirled in 2023 that the show was nearing its end. The series was renewed that year, but the cast and producers agreed to take a 25 percent pay cut, a sign of how hard the network wanted to keep it alive. Boston Blue premiered this October and airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET.
The tension has never been whether Selleck matters to the story. It is whether he will actually return. In October 2024, Selleck said he was frustrated about Blue Bloods ending and argued the show should have remained on the air, saying he wanted to talk about its continued success during the final eight episodes. He later said in December 2024 that he would be open to suggestions about Boston Blue because he loves Frank Reagan, but that nobody had really asked him to come back. For now, Wahlberg says other Blue Bloods cast members have already appeared, and that “there would be a few surprises before the season ends involving other Reagans.”
Selleck has not closed the door, but he has not stepped through it either. His own words suggest he is willing to revisit Frank Reagan only if the series finds the right moment and the right scene — and that is exactly what Boston Blue is now waiting to prove.
