‘Blue Bloods’ Behind the Scenes: Look Back on 14 Years of Memories With Tom Selleck & Cast (PHOTOS)
Blue Bloods has provided 14 years of memories to its cast, crew, and fans. The story may continue in a possible spinoff following the final season, but even if this isn’t the story’s true end, it’s certainly the end of an era.
Here, we stroll through Blue Bloods memory lane with 14 years worth of behind-the-scenes photos of stars Tom Selleck, Donnie Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan, Will Estes, and more of the Reagan crew, as well as memorable guest stars, with commentary from the stars themselves.
This is an excerpt from TV Guide Magazine’s Blue Bloods: The Special Farewell issue. For a look back on the long-running series and more scoop on the final episodes, pick up a copy of the issue available on newsstands and for order online at BlueBloods2024.com.
Busy man Tom Selleck (on location in Manhattan on July 22, 2011) not only stars as Frank Reagan but also lends his expertise to producing Blue Bloods. “I became a producer when I really didn’t feel they were capturing all the work that the actors were doing in the editing room,” he says. “I’m pretty good at that, so I wanted to be in the room.”
Nick Turturro’s (left) Sgt. Tony Renzulli stands with Will Estes’ new cop Jamie Reagan on August 31, 2010, while shooting Season 1 in NYC. The first half of the pilot was shot in Canada, but “everyone lobbied really hard,” says Estes, to move the production full time to the Big Apple.
“Henry was part of the original band for good reason,” says showrunner Kevin Wade of former police commissioner Henry Reagan (Len Cariou), seen here filming Season 2’s episode “Reagan v. Reagan.” Henry, or Pop, proved to be an important sounding board for Frank.
Estes (right) films an action sequence on November 19, 2012. This Season 3 episode, “Front Page News,” saw his Jamie shoot and kill an armed man in a public park. Guilt-ridden, Jamie later learns the man was committing suicide by cop.
Jennifer Esposito (Det. Jackie Curatola) and Donnie Wahlberg (Danny Reagan) share plenty of off-camera laughs while shooting Season 2’s 2012 installment “The Uniform.” In it, the case-cracking duo investigate a murder at a diner. Hope they got some disco fries to go!
Are you a good Reagan or a bad Reagan? Daughter and mother Nicky and Erin (Sami Gayle and Bridget Moynahan) dress up as Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West for Season 3 episode “Nightmares,” shot on September 27, 2012.
Before his long-running tenure on The CW’s superhero show The Flash, Tom Cavanagh (seen here with Santa) was in Season 4’s 2013 episode “Ties That Bind.” His Mickey Patrick, a childhood pal of Danny’s who is wrapped up with a Florida crime family, didn’t make the nice list…. Still, Mickey returned in 2023 for Season 13’s “The Big Leagues.”
Wahlberg poses with RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars winner Jinkx Monsoon (right, as Tallulah Bangkok) and other queens while filming Season 4’s “Manhattan Queens.” Wahlberg also directed the episode, which they shot during 2014’s polar vortex—one of the coldest days on record in New York. It was “incredibly challenging but very rewarding,” Wahlberg says.
Dennis Haysbert (24) seems pretty jovial with Selleck, despite shooting his NYPD Deputy Chief Donald Kent’s murder scene on March 23, 2015. The bloody moment shocked fans during the Season 5 finale’s first hour, “New Rules.”
“I will always remember how I laughed so hard that I cried while with Donnie and the crew,” says Marisa Ramirez, with Wahlberg on August 6, 2015. “Most crews would be annoyed that the actors are messing around, but we’ve had so many moments where the crew was cry-laughing too.”
This shot of Gayle and Cariou is from March 7, 2016, but Gayle will “forever cherish” shooting Season 2’s “The Life We Chose.” Nicky and her great-grandfather sang “I Don’t Need Anything But You” from Annie: “He is a Broadway legend. I am honored to have shared the stage with him.”
Wahlberg—the set’s resident goofball—takes a spin on a bicycle between takes while shooting Season 9’s “Identity” on March 20, 2019. In the episode, Wahlberg’s Danny knocks a man who is suspected of being “Central Perv” off of his bike while he tries to flee from the cops.
Partners—for life! Vanessa Ray (with Estes, shooting Season 9’s “Playing With Fire”) says the chemistry between Jamie and Eddie (#Jamko to fans) was “pretty seamless.” And meeting her costar was just as nice: “It was like, ‘Oh, this person is a long-lost friend I just hadn’t met yet.’”
Ramirez (filming Season 10 with Wahlberg on January 7, 2020) doesn’t plan to take any souvenirs from set when the show wraps. “The memories are much more important,” she says. “But I do hope we take a huge cast and crew photo before our last day.”
Lassie, come home! Ray poses with her furry costar on October 22, 2020, while shooting Season 10 episode “The First 100 Days,” when her character, Eddie Janko, is led to a crime scene by a stray pooch, whom she later convinces husband Jamie (Estes) to keep at the precinct.
Estes and Wahlberg shoot a scene on April 5, 2021, for the first hour of Season 11’s two-part finale, “The End.” In the last seconds, Jamie and Danny believe that Joe Hill (Will Hochman) is inside a car that’s been set on fire…then the screen fades to black. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t Joe!
Wahlberg is all smiles with his first solo TV Guide Magazine cover, our April 10, 2023, issue. And that’s just the kind of happy guy he is—even while filming. “I sometimes can’t hide my affection for the family at the dinner table,” he says, “because it’s genuine, you know?”
As retired detective Anthony Abetemarco, Steve Schirripa (with Moynahan on November 5, 2020) often brings comic relief to scenes with ADA Erin Reagan. “I’ve been lucky to be on two previous well-known and beloved shows,” says the actor of The Sopranos and The Secret Life of the American Teenager. “Spending nine years on Blue Bloods has just been wonderful.”
Wahlberg stops to take a selfie with fans holding #SaveBlueBloods signs in February 2024. “When I am out [filming], meeting and hearing how so many people, from so many different walks of life, love the show—to feel that in New York, and to feel that from the NYPD, it’s more meaningful than any award or accolades we could ever get,” says the star.
A late addition to the Reagan brood, Joe (Hochman, left, with Wahlberg on May 8, 2024) is just as capable a detective as any of his relatives. And he’s earned his place after five seasons. “I don’t really feel like the new kid anymore,” admits Hochman. “I’m full of gratitude.”
“There’s so many memories,” says Estes (left, with Cariou, Moynahan, Selleck and Wahlberg on May 1, 2024, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn) of his time on Blue Bloods. “It’s the feeling I have about the people I’ve worked with and that we’ve done good work. We’ve told a story that’s worth putting on TV.”
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