Donnie Wahlberg on His ‘Blue Bloods’ Family, Connecting with Fans, and On-Set Memories
Donnie Wahlberg stars as Danny Reagan on Blue Bloods. The series is currently in its fourteenth season, which will be split into two parts and conclude in fall 2024. New episodes air on Fridays at 10:00 PM, ET/PT on CBS and are available to stream live on Paramount+.
BLUE BLOODS is a drama about a multi-generational family of cops dedicated to New York City law enforcement. Frank Reagan is the New York Police Commissioner, and heads both the police force and the Reagan brood. He runs his department as diplomatically as he runs his family, even when dealing with the politics that plagued his unapologetically bold father, Henry, during his stint as chief. A source of pride and concern for Frank is his eldest son, Danny, a seasoned detective, family man and Iraq War vet who on occasion uses dubious tactics to solve cases with his partner and new mother, Detective Maria Baez. Erin, the middle daughter, is a New York assistant D.A. who serves as the legal compass for her siblings and father, while also pursuing a run for district attorney. Jamie is the youngest Reagan, a Harvard Law graduate and the family’s golden boy. Unable to deny the family tradition, Jamie decided to give up a lucrative future in law and follow in the family footsteps as a cop. He’s found a friend and ally in his wife, Eddie, who keeps him on his toes, and has very different reasons than the Reagans for joining the police force.
“It’s easy to write a character off as being one-dimensional. Danny’s a very layered character, to begin with, right? He’s very affectionate with his wife, he’s very fun with his kids, but you know, he’s also who he is. He’s straightforward, he can be tough and a little gruff at times, he’s sort of a hard-nosed cop,” the actor explained while reflecting on how his character has grown and what he considers to be a turning point. “He’s showed glimpses of these other sides, but I think Linda’s passing really sort of was the first real change point for him and to become a little more, I think, grounded and grateful, and he kind of had to wear both hats, perhaps that’s why. He now was having to fill in Linda’s role and his own role with the kids. So there’s, obviously, that whole experience of Linda’s character leaving, but I think also, Baez really kind of forced him to look at himself a lot.”
Wahlberg has been playing Danny since the drama first
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Wahlberg has been playing Danny since the drama first premiered back in 2010, and he told me, “I wanted to do a TV show like Blue Bloods that would be on for a decade and would be a steady, consistent work as opposed to traveling and going all over the place. I’ve wanted to do something like this my whole life, even as a kid, I would watch TV shows and imagine being on one. And when I first started acting, it was like, TV wasn’t really that popular then with actors and it wasn’t cool to do TV. I was like, ‘What’s wrong with TV? I would love to do a TV show and go to work at the same place all the time.’ Oh man, you know, the late ‘90s, there was the stigma with television still that was lingering from whatever — the ‘70s and ‘80s, but I’m like, ‘I love TV. I always loved TV. What’s wrong with TV,’ right? Now, I’m doing this and I finally am in this position to do this show and the first thing I do is start tweeting about it, and the first thing I do is make it a fan event, right? So it was like, it wasn’t just my opportunity, it was our opportunity, right?”
We discussed how his character has evolved over the years, Danny’s partnership with Baez, the show’s passionate fan base, his love for the cast, how he first connected with the script, taking in the little moments, and much more.
