Turning Boston Blue
Boston Blue stars Donnie Wahlberg and Sonequa Martin-Green discuss the origins of this Blue Bloods sequel, the dynamics of their on-screen partnership and the show’s central themes of family, faith and tradition.
By the time New York City crime procedural Blue Bloods was drawing to a close after 14 seasons, star Donnie Wahlberg had already spent several years imagining spin-offs where life could continue for his character, NYPD detective Danny Reagan.
But while his ideas “somewhat jokingly” imagined Danny as a “fish out of water,” in Texas, LA or Las Vegas, Boston-native Wahlberg has ended up closer to home.
Set in the aftermath of Blue Bloods, Boston Blue finds Danny taking up a position with the Boston Police Department, where he is paired with fellow detective Lena Silver (Sonequa Martin-Green), the eldest daughter of a prominent law enforcement family – mirroring the setup of the Reagan family in Blue Bloods.
The Silver family comprises Boston district attorney Mae Silver (Gloria Reuben), Boston PD detective Lena Silver, police superintendent Sarah Silver (Maggie Lawson), rookie cop Jonah Silver (Marcus Scribner) and renowned Baptist pastor Reverend Edwin Peters (Ernie Hudson). As Reagan settles into his new city, he also hopes to reconnect with his younger son, Sean (Mika Amonsen), who is beginning his own career in Boston.
Produced by CBS Studios in association with Jerry Bruckheimer Television, the series debuted on CBS in the US earlier this month after its world premiere at Mipcom in Cannes. The show has also found homes in more than 100 markets around the world, with Paramount Global Content Distribution securing deals with buyers including M-Net in Africa, AXN Asia, Paramount+ in Australia, Play Media in Belgium, CTV in Canada, Sky Deutschland, Cosmote TV in Greece, Síminn in Iceland, Coupany Play in Korea and Sky New Zealand.
More than just a spin-off of Blue Bloods, Boston Blue represents the merger of Danny Reagan within a world established in a script called Jamaica Plain, a crime drama set in the titular Boston neighbourhood written by Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier.
“Well, I may have had something to do with the merger of Danny Reagan to the world [of Jamaica Plain], not intentionally, but I would always somewhat jokingly talk about, if Blue Bloods ever ends one day, it’d be really fun to have Danny be a fish out of water,” Wahlberg tells DQ. “I started to think about that when this character, Texas Ranger Waylon Gates (Lyle Lovett), kept showing up on Blue Bloods, and I said, ‘It’ll be fun for Danny to go to his world and be in Texas,’ or something like that.
“I had thrown those ideas out. Then when this story [of Jamaica Plain] was coming along, someone did the math and said, ‘Donnie talked about sending Danny to Texas or LA or Vegas. What if we made him this character in Boston?’ Of course, Boston was a great hook for me, but everything aligned perfectly because everyone was thinking something similar, without discussing it.”
Here, Walhberg and co-star Martin-Green reveal more about the origins of Boston Blue, how the show’s dynamics mirror those of Blue Bloods in new ways, and the drama’s reflection of diversity and inclusion in modern-day America.
How did Jamaica Plain become this, and what was your journey to it, after the end of Blue Bloods?
Wahlberg: At the time that the Brandons were writing the script, I was trying to keep Blue Bloods on TV. So when it was first presented to me, I almost didn’t want to hear it because I was still thinking I was going to play Danny Reagan on Blue Bloods, but that never manifested. Eventually, I stopped looking at Boston Blue or Jamaica Plain as the end of Blue Bloods and started seeing it as the only pathway forward for Blue Bloods. Now the characters live on through story, through conversation, through guest appearances and, in success, perhaps through other exploring other aspects of the universe. In many ways, this show, while it’s its own magical and wonderful thing, it is also helping to save Blue Bloods, if we choose to see it that way, and I do.
We now see Danny, the son of a cop, as the father of a cop.
Wahlberg: I’m learning about Danny more and more all the time. Of course, we went into it with the intent of, ‘What’s Danny really doing there?’ He’s always had his dad and siblings on the police department with him, but he’s never been a father to a cop, and that’s turned his world a little upside down, including moving him to Boston. He’s always going to be a detective. It’s who he is, it’s what he wants to do. That’s his love and his passion. But he’s evolving a lot, not just in ways that seemed obvious. He’s actually learning in ways and evolving in ways that are much deeper than even myself or the Brandons expected in the creative process of beginning this show.
Sonequa, you made your first TV appearance in NBC’s Law & Order: Criminal Intent and you’ve gone on to do many things since then, including The Walking Dead and Star Trek Discovery. What was it about Boston Blue that drew you back to the police procedural?
Martin-Green: I didn’t know I was gonna go back to TV this soon. I thought I would ride off into the sunset of movies after Star Trek Discovery wrapped, and then here this comes. It was too good; it was clearly where God wanted me to be, and I’m loving every part of it. I’m especially loving being on the ground – I’ve been in space for a long time and it’s really amazing to be on the ground again and to be playing someone in law enforcement, to be learning about law enforcement. I’ve always had such respect for people who put their lives on the line for strangers, and our cast is phenomenal. We’re really loving each other and we’re really taking it seriously, being on the shoulders of this TV legacy and moving it forward. So I am blessed.
Lena and Danny are polar opposites, yet they’re also such similar people.
Martin-Green: My perspective on the story, on the partnership and on Danny Reagan is yes, they are so different, but there are so many parallels between them. It’s a very specific experience to be a detective in a prominent law enforcement family in a major metropolitan city. So they understand each other. There’s a kindredness there. They see each other, they make each other better, they challenge each other, but they also have this deeply rooted trust pretty quickly.
My heart is really invested in this for many reasons, but one of them is because Brandon Sonnier wanted to see his own family on screen. Here you have this blended family, multi-racial, multi-faith family, and he had never really seen that before and wanted to showcase that. My character’s named after his daughter, and I appreciate that and want to give that the respect it is due. I love that these two connect so quickly. It’s one of the main reasons why he [Danny] decides to stay [in Boston], because there is this unspoken synergy, and it’s spoken too with their partnership. The Silver family, hopefully, will be beloved and you’ll get to know them through Danny Reagan’s eyes. Hopefully you’ll appreciate the partnership as well.
Wahlberg: People say things like, ‘I can’t believe Danny would move to Boston. He’s so New York.’ True… On the surface, they don’t have anything in common, but once they look deeper, which is what we should do in life, they find out they have so much in common and so much connective tissue that they identify it in each other, and it is part of the reason he stays. It’s not a romantic thing. It’s a deep connection that’s almost unspoken, that says, ‘Wow, I’m moving here for my son, but I’ve met someone and a family, or someone who comes from a family that reminds me of home.’ It gives Danny a safe place to feel like he’s getting the things he’s not going to get by being away from home. It’s pretty profound.
Family, religion and diversity are at the heart of this show. But how do you feel about Boston Blue debuting in an environment where some of those ideas are so divisive?
Wahlberg: The times are constantly changing. The show wasn’t made to serve the times. It was made to carry on the family, faith and tradition that Blue Bloods established in a new world, in a new city with elements of that show and a new family at the core of it. I don’t think this show’s intention is to check boxes beyond those things – and it’s rooted in truth. One of our head writers is telling his family’s story. It’s not that somebody said, ‘Hey, you have to tell this story for this reason.’ It was like, ‘Let’s move Danny Reagan to Boston and find this new family. And hey, perhaps I can base the family around my family and my story of origin.’
Personally, I’m not worried that people are gonna think it’s some attempt to do anything other than tell fantastic stories and, yes, tackle issues and confront things that are happening socially in our world and specifically in our country. At the same time, the show is about a family and their fates and their traditions and how they align with the Reagan family’s fate and family and traditions.
Martin-Green: There’s always going to be resistance to progression, so we are always going to have to decide among ourselves what we’re going to do to be a part of the solution rather than the problem. Here you have authentic diversity, equity and inclusion, and it’s someone’s personal story being dramatised, yes, but also being reflected. Not only do we need to see ourselves, but we need to see elevated versions of ourselves. Here you have these people who have dedicated their lives to the greater good. They are black and white, but they’ve dedicated their lives to the greater good and they’re linking arms and doing it together. I hope that will shine through, and I think it will.
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Blue Bloods: A multi-generational family of cops in New York City, the Reagans balance policing the streets with their complex personal lives. The series explores the intersection of law enforcement, family loyalty and justice.
NYPD Blue: Set in Manhattan’s 15th Precinct, this gritty drama follows detectives grappling with crime, corruption and their own personal struggles, blending high-stakes investigation with character-driven stories.
Rookie Blue: Newly graduated police officers must balance their ideals with the challenging realities of the job, discovering the true meaning of justice, loyalty and teamwork on city streets.
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tagged in: Boston Blue, CBS, CBS Studios, Donnie Wahlberg, Jerry Bruckheimer Television, Paramount Global Content Distribution, Sonequa Martin-Green