Donnie Wahlberg got honest about how expensive it was to make Blue Bloods — and why it led to the cast taking a pay cut before the show’s cancellation.
“With Blue Bloods, they came to us before the final year and said, ‘You need to take a 25 percent pay cut or we’re going off the air.’ And some people were like, ‘Nope.’ Other people were like, ‘OK,'” Wahlberg, 56, shared in the Tuesday, April 21, episode of “The George Janko Show” podcast.
The actor, who played Danny Reagan on the show, tried to negotiate. “I was like, ‘Why not just say [a] 15 [percent pay cut] in exchange for four more seasons?’” he recalled. “Because they were like, ‘This is the last year, so 25 percent pay cut.’ I just was like, ‘Let’s keep it going. I’d rather have 75 percent of something than zero percent of zero.'”
Blue Bloods ultimately came to an end after 14 seasons on CBS.
“I naively thought if we take the pay cut — and this is where other people were right — that we could have kept going. But the show has gotten so expensive and the industry has changed,” Wahlberg explained. “They used to make 10 to 20 TV pilots on one network. … There’s no pilot season anymore. It’s all changed.”
The hit series found a strong fanbase when it premiered on CBS in 2010. After a 14-season run, viewers were not ready to say goodbye to New York Police Commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck) and his children: Danny (Wahlberg), Erin (Bridget Moynahan) and Jamie (Will Estes).
CBS, however, had different plans when speculation grew that Blue Bloods could end despite the cast and producers agreeing to take a 25 percent pay cut. After Blue Bloods’ series finale in December 2024, Wahlberg scored a spinoff with CBS’ Boston Blue.
“I can assure every viewer out there that nobody was more disappointed than me. Nobody cried more than me. Nobody’s heart was broken more than mine,” Wahlberg exclusively told Us Weekly in February. “I fought tooth and nail to save Blue Bloods. I did everything I could.”
Wahlberg recalled having to mourn the end of Blue Bloods before making the transition.
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“I had to go through the process of saying goodbye to our crew and the cast and reconciling the fact that [Blue Bloods] could now be in my rearview mirror,” he continued. “I had to let go of Danny Reagan and Blue Bloods. So when this came along, I had to reevaluate. It wasn’t just a snap decision.”
He concluded: “It became an easier decision as I got to work on the pilot script with the Brandons [creators Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier]. I found ways to make it authentic to Danny, make it plausible that he would go to Boston, and find ways to really make Danny a fish out of water.”
Boston Blue airs on CBS Fridays at 10 p.m. ET. New episodes stream the next day on Paramount+.
