It’s the beginning of the end of Blue Bloods tonight when the first of the final eight episodes of the police/family drama begin airing on CBS. Tonight, the Reagans’ professional lives converge when an allegation of jury tampering against Erin (Bridget Moynahan) intertwines with Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and Baez’s (Marisa Ramirez) homicide case and Eddie’s (Vanessa Ray) bond to a child murder witness.
To promote the final season, Donnie stopped by Radio Andy on Sirius to talk about what it was like filming the final day as Danny Reagan.
“I felt tremendous gratitude not sad-attitude,” Donnie told Andy Cohen. “Everyone cried. Of course, the last day was heartbreaking.
He also told Andy that it seems as if the 14 years he spent as part of series went by in the blink of an eye.
“I didn’t even know my wife [Jenny McCarthy] when the show started,” he recalled. “I remember her visiting me on set at the end of Season 3 or something like that and everyone was like, ‘What’s she doing here?’ All the crew’s excited because you get close with your crew and everything.”
Donnie’s final day of shooting was in the NYPD detective squad room from where he and his partner Baez take on cases, and he received a surprise when Tom Selleck, who plays Danny’s father and police commissioner Frank Reagan, came by to watch. Tom had wrapped up several days prior and flew back from L.A. just to be there on the final day of filming.
“I’ve worked with Tom Selleck for 14 years and we have real conversations,” Donnie continued. “We work. I don’t show up and go, ‘Tell me what to do.’ We have a back and forth and there’s a process and he respects me and what I do and what I bring to the table as I do him, but when he shows up to watch you work and to be there to say goodbye to everyone and I’m filming the scenes, I’m already emotional, and I look across the room and I see him. He’s really tall and he’s standing above everyone in the back corner just watching with tears in his eyes, it was just like the waterworks turned on. I could literally cry just thinking about it.”
That said, Donnie also shared with Andy that he believes that fans of Blue Bloods will be happy with the ending.
“There’ll be a lot of tears. I think the same kind of tears we had but there is a very sad scene that happens in in the middle of the final episode which will be very emotional, but I think the audience is going to be really happy. I think it feels like a finale but a hopeful forward-thinking finale.”
Blue Bloods returns tonight at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. Streams next day on Paramount+.