‘I Had This Idea…’: Donnie Wahlberg Reveals What Almost Happened on ‘Boston Blue’
The surprising twist that almost took Danny Reagan far from Boston
Following the extremely successful 14-year run of Blue Bloods, fans are finally getting one of the Reagans back on their screens full-time, and that’s Donnie Wahlberg’s Danny Reagan. But this time around, the seasoned detective is bringing his skill and charm to a new city—Boston. Boston Blue, which premieres tonight, October 17, sees Danny head to a new locale as he gets involved in a case that he can’t back down from.
Woman’s World had the chance to catch an early screening of the Boston Blue premiere episode, where stars Donnie Wahlberg and Sonequa Martin-Green took part in a live Q&A, spilling secrets about the series and sharing a few things that almost happened in the show. Get the inside scoop on Boston Blue ahead of the premiere episode!
Donnie Wahlberg on the ‘Boston Blue’ storyline that almost happened
It’s hard to imagine Danny Reagan running around and solving crimes anywhere other than a big city like New York, which is why it’s not completely out of the question to find him in Boston. But before he went north to Beantown, Danny almost traveled south to an entirely different area.
“I had this idea, maybe Danny goes to Texas and he’s a fish out of water,” Wahlberg recalled during the Q&A. “Or maybe he goes to LA or Vegas and works in a casino; just somewhere different where he doesn’t know every nook and cranny of the place he is. And he has to get on a horse or do things that are out of his comfort zone.”
But while Wahlberg wanted to take Danny far away from his hometown of Brooklyn, New York, the creators of Boston Blue had something else in mind.
“At the same time, I think [Blue Bloods executive producer] Jerry Bruckheimer and the Brandons [Creators Brandon Sonnier and Brandon Margolis] were developing an idea for another law enforcement family,” Wahlberg explained, “and I think there was a character who was moving to Boston. That’s how he met the family, and they were, like, ‘Hey, instead of moving to Texas, why don’t we talk about him [Danny] joining this thing and moving to Boston?’”
The real-life family behind the ‘Boston Blue’ characters
Boston Blue paints a similar picture to Blue Bloods, as it follows a family deeply rooted in law enforcement. This one consists of Detective Lena Peters (Martin-Green), her step-sister and Boston PD superintendent Sarah (Maggie Lawson), rookie Boston cop and half-brother Jonah (Marcus Scribner), Boston District Attorney and mom Mae (Gloria Reuben) and grandfather Reverend Edwin Peters (Ernie Hudson). On top of being a blended family, they follow more than one religion, but as convoluted as the family dynamic comes across on-screen, it’s not completely fictional.
“The family is based on Brandon Sonnier’s,” Wahlberg shared. “He’s [Sonnier] married into Judaism. He converted. Lena (Martin-Green) is, in many ways, modeled after him and named after his daughter. So there’s a true family at the core of this. It wasn’t, like, ‘How do we create the perfect balance of a family?’ It’s his family and we can call on that all the time. We don’t have to say, ‘How do you deal with this? How did you handle that?’… That’s his real family makeup. And so it’s really interesting that it’s factual. It’s not some fictional thing.”
And yes, the actors actually eat in the dinner scenes
Family dinner is a key component to both Blue Bloods and Boston Blue, as the Reagans and now the Peters sit down to enjoy a meal together at least once per episode. But despite filming at the dinner table for multiple hours, the cast is actually enjoying the food they are given.
“What’s funny is that we all eat for real,” Martin-Green explained. “Apparently, he [Wahlberg] used to just scarf it down. We also feel like if there’s food there, you need to be eating it.”
But on those long shooting days, you can’t really sit there and eat all day long. Bridgit Moynahan and Tom Selleck, who starred as Erin Reagan and Frank Reagan on Blue Bloods, had a few tricks to get through those days.
“Bridget would just move her potatoes around,” Wahlberg recalled. “She just repositioned her mashed potatoes…everyone knows Tom [Selleck] would butter his roll for six hours.”
When and where to watch ‘Boston Blue’
Get ready to see Danny Reagan enter a whole new world on Boston Blue, tonight at 10 P.M. ET on CBS and streaming the next day on Paramount+.
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