SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from “Faith and Family,” the series premiere of CBS’ “Boston Blue.”
When “Blue Bloods” came to an end last year after 14 seasons, there were multiple questions viewers still had about what happened to the Reagan clan. Luckily, with spinoff “Boston Blue,” led by Donnie Wahlberg’s Dannie Reagan, they got one big answer in the first moments of the Oct. 17 premiere.
In the finale, Danny finally asked his longtime partner, Maria Baez (Marisa Ramirez) to get pizza. And in the first minutes of the premiere, he was shown in bed with Baez; their banter returned, this time with a romantic twist.
“Once we realized we were getting a chance to continue Danny Reagan’s story, Brandon and I looked at what the dangling threads were from the finale, and what was owed. Obviously, the big one was what happened when they went out for pizza,” co-showrunner Brandon Margolis tells Variety. “We really did want to feel like this show is continuing that story in fairly real time. It’s going to be about a year since the finale was off the air, so if Danny and Baez were together, where are they at, and what would that look like? How could that potentially complicate a journey going from New York to Boston? It was important to us we pay service to that and continue to establish that relationship.”
While Ramirez hasn’t yet signed on to more episodes, the relationship will continue, Sonnier confirms. “Long-distance relationships are a thing. I think we can expect to play that relationship through and really get a sense of where they are in the progression of this relationship that we’ve been watching for a decade,” he says. “It’s a four-hour drive!”
Mika Amonsen as Sean Reagan
CBS
In the premiere, Danny pairs up with Detective Lena Silver (Sonequa Martin-Green), the eldest daughter of a prominent law enforcement family — something he knows a thing or two about — in Boston. He’s taking on a new role with the Boston Police Department in order to stay close to his son, Sean (Mika Amonsen), after he suffers an injury while on the job as a police officer.
One big difference from “Blue Bloods” is that Sean has been recast; while Andrew Terraciano played the character for 292 episodes of “Blue Bloods,” Mika Amonsen has taken over the role for the spinoff.
We love Andrew and the work he did over the years on ‘Blue Bloods.’ Really, it came down to we’re telling a new chapter in both of their lives. It’s not just Sean who has joined the family business as it were and is turning over this new leaf, but it’s also now Danny Reagan is the father to a cop, which he’s never been before,” explains Margolis. “So there are all these new storytelling lanes to explore. It felt like there was an organic opportunity to bring in a new performance with a new energy, to help dramatize that change. It is the same character, it’s the same relationship, but it’s also completely different. We love what Mika has brought to Sean, this vulnerability, yet this desire to prove himself. It’s just been great to watch it come to life.”
Sonequa Martin-Green as Lena Silver, Bridget Moynahan as Erin Reagan Boyle, and Donnie Wahlberg as Danny Reagan
CBS
The show will have a similar tone to “Blue Bloods” and will likely include more familiar faces. Bridget Moynahan’s Erin Raegan appeared in the premiere, arriving in Boston to make sure Danny was okay, which seems to be just the start.
“Can we expect some family members? Can we expect some visits and some trips? Yes, we can,” co-showrunner Brandon Sonnier adds. “We truly mean that we are an expansion of the universe. It’s not just a run-of-the-mill spinoff. It is a different look at a different dynastic law enforcement family through the eyes of the Reagans. But the Reagans exist. They are still out there in the world, living those lives that we watched for so long.”
Plus, every episode will feature a family dinner — the Silver family’s Shabbat dinner, which was part of the premiere, which Danny and Erin excitedly joined.
“We will have Shabbat dinner every episode. We hope to honor the original show and their Sunday dinners were so much a fabric of what that show was about, what that family was about,” says Sonnier. “One of the things Donnie would always tell us about was how many real-life law enforcement people he would meet over the course of working on ‘Blue Bloods’ would express how much they appreciated that the Reagan family reminded them of their family. They would sit down and they would have dinner. This is an organic way to continue that universe. It’s something we do. I sit down to dinner as often as possible with my family. I have four young children. Everyone’s got baseball and dance and all the things that people have. But as often as we can, we sit down and we do celebrate Shabbat, so Friday is our time that we get to connect as a family.”
“Boston Blue” airs at 10 p.m. ET on CBS and streams on Paramount+ the next day.
