Donnie Wahlberg Reveals What It Would Take to Get Tom Selleck Back on “Boston Blue”

Oct 27, 2026 by apost team

“Blue Bloods” ran for 14 seasons on CBS, ending in December 2024. Tom Selleck played NYPD Commissioner Frank Reagan in all 293 episodes — every single one. When CBS cancelled the show, Selleck was not happy about it. “There are a lot of us who are very frustrated,” he told PEOPLE at the time.

The franchise, however, did not end. Donnie Wahlberg — who played Danny Reagan, Frank’s son, for all 14 years — returned in the fall of 2025 for “Boston Blue,” a spinoff series set in Boston, where Danny has relocated with his family. The show was renewed for a second season, which premiered in early October 2026. Bridget Moynahan, Len Cariou, and Marisa Ramirez have all reprised their “Blue Bloods” roles. The one notable absence is Selleck.

Wahlberg addressed it directly in an exclusive PEOPLE interview published October 24, 2026 — and what he said suggested the door is not only open but actively being held.

“I love him and respect him so much,” Wahlberg said of Selleck. “I know what it will require. I know how exceptional he will want it to be. And when the time is right, we will, hopefully, have something exceptional enough for him.”

He also said, simply: “I love him, and I miss him.”

Selleck himself has not closed the door. “I’m open to suggestions, because I love Frank Reagan,” he told reporters at CBS Fest in October. He added: “But nobody’s really asked.”

The situation, in other words, is this: Wahlberg wants him back. Selleck would come back for the right story. Nobody has formally asked yet. The second season is currently airing. The clock, apparently, is running.

“Boston Blue” is built around the same premise that made “Blue Bloods” work across 14 years: the Reagan family as a multigenerational institution bound by blood, profession, and duty. Moving Danny to Boston does not sever that connection — it complicates it in ways the spinoff has spent two seasons exploring. Bridget Moynahan, Len Cariou, and Marisa Ramirez have all made the trip north to appear. The patriarch has not.

Frank Reagan was the moral center of “Blue Bloods” — the man who set the standard the whole family measured itself against. His presence was not incidental to the show’s emotional logic. It was the show’s emotional logic. Wahlberg understands this, which is why his comments about bringing Selleck back are not casual. “I know what it will require,” he said. That is not a throwaway line. It is a person who has thought carefully about what the moment would need to be.

Wahlberg has spoken before about how much the “Blue Bloods” family meant to him — penning an emotional public letter to Selleck after the finale aired, calling him “onscreen dad” and signing it “Donnie aka Danny aka Son.” The affection runs in both directions. Selleck told reporters he loves Frank Reagan and remains open to returning. The creative team is in its second season. The infrastructure is there.

All that is missing, apparently, is the story — and the ask. Wahlberg is working on the first. Selleck is waiting for the second.

apost.com

Are you a fan of “Boston Blue” and “Blue Bloods”? Do you think Tom Selleck should return as Frank Reagan? Let us know in the comments and pass this on to your family, friends, and other fans of the franchise out there!