Boston Blue

Main

• Donnie Wahlberg as Boston Police Department (former NYPD) detective Danny Reagan^[5]
• Sonequa Martin-Green as Boston police detective Lena Silver, daughter of Mae and stepdaughter of Ben. Her biological father is said to be absent, and she chooses to complete her conversion to Judaism in honor of her stepfather in Season 1.
• Ernie Hudson as Reverend Edwin Peters, a Baptist minister, Mae's father, Lena and Jonah's grandfather as well as Sarah's step grandfather.^[3]
• Maggie Lawson as Sarah Silver, biological daughter of Ben and Lena's stepsister^[6] who serves as Boston PD's Superintendent of Detectives.
• Gloria Reuben as Mae Silver, the Boston District Attorney (officially the District Attorney of Suffolk County, Massachusetts), Lena's mother, and Sarah's stepmother, who converted to Judaism with her marriage to the late Ben Silver, a judge who was killed in front of a courthouse about a year before the series starts.
• Marcus Scribner as Jonah Silver, Sarah and Lena's younger half-brother and biological son of Mae and Ben, a Boston patrol officer partnered with Sean Reagan.
• Mika Amonsen as Sean Reagan, Danny's younger son, and a Boston patrol officer;^[1] due to an NYPD hiring freeze, Sean moved to Boston, to become the fourth generation of Reagans to become a police officer. Amonsen replaces Andrew Terraciano, who played the character in Blue Bloods.

Recurring

• Kenric Green as Charlie, Mae's chief of staff
• Xochitl Gomez as Penny
• Harry Lennix a judge and Mae's future love interest^[7]

Crossover characters from Blue Bloods

• Bridget Moynahan as Erin Reagan, Danny's younger sister and a New York County Assistant District Attorney.
• Marisa Ramirez as Det. Maria Baez, Danny's girlfriend and former partner.
• Len Cariou as Henry Reagan, Danny's grandfather and retired NYPD Police Commissioner.^[8]

Development

On June 4, 2024, Paramount Global co-CEO Brian Robbins said at a shareholder presentation that there were plans for a "franchise extension" of Blue Bloods.^[23]

The show was not planned as a Blue Bloods spinoff, but had originally been pitched by writers Brandon Sonnier^[24] and Brandon Margolis^[25] as a drama titled after the Boston neighborhood Jamaica Plain focused on a transfer from the LAPD to Boston. In February 2025, CBS officially picked up the show straight-to-series for the 2025–26 broadcast season, ordering 20 episodes.^[26][27][28]

The first episode was directed and produced by Anthony Hemingway.^[29]

Casting

In addition to Wahlberg, CBS also announced the casting of Sonequa Martin-Green as a second lead character in May 2025; the new character Lena Silver was originally referred to in announcements as Lena Peters, which would be the maiden name of her mother's character.^[30] In May 2025, Ernie Hudson was cast as a series regular for the series.^[3] Hudson had previously appeared on Blue Bloods playing another character in a guest role in 2018 in Season 8.^[31] In June 2025, Maggie Lawson, Gloria Reuben, and Marcus Scribner joined the cast in starring roles.^[32][33][4] In July 2025, Mika Amonsen was cast as a series regular as Danny Reagan's younger son Sean, a recasting of the role played by Andrew Terraciano on the original show.^[34] In the same month, Bridget Moynahan joined the cast to reprise her role as Erin as a special guest star and set to direct an episode as well.^[35] In November 2025, it was reported that Xochitl Gomez was cast in a recurring capacitiy.^[36]

Asked about participation in a possible spin-off, Tom Selleck said he was "open to suggestions because I love Frank Reagan," but added that he did not see the character retiring and going off to a small town.^[37]

Filming

Most of the filming is taking place in Toronto due to financial reasons amid broader challenges in the U.S. filming industry. Wahlberg said he advocated to do at least some filming in Boston, which took place in August 2025 at Fenway Park and Boston Common.^[38][39] "The goal is, let's compromise to get the show made. We'll work outside and do exteriors in Boston, and then you know, in success, perhaps we can come down there and be there full time," he told a Boston radio station.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 80% based on 10 critic reviews.^[44] Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 64 out of 100 based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable".^[45]

Aramide Tinubu of Variety wrote in her review: "Boston Blue has enormous shoes to fill, considering the 14-year run of Blue Bloods. Yet, in the episodes screened (critics received two for review), it is clear that this new show has the foundation to go all the way."^[46] Diedre Johnson of TheWrap wrote in her review: "Despite a new cast and setting, CBS's Boston Blue has all the bones of the original series."^[47] Joel Keller of Decider wrote in his review: Boston Blue was eye-rollingly frustrating to watch, because it feels like showrunner Brandon Margolis and his writing staff took every contrived, cliched way to create a spinoff of a hit series they could dream up, making for a story that feels like it came straight from a spinoff episode you might have seen in the 1980s."^[48] Kristen Baldwin of Entertainment Weekly wrote in her review: "Sometimes, the best thing a show can do is deliver exactly what the viewers want — nothing more, nothing less. And that's just what CBS does with Boston Blue, the new spinoff of its long-running, much-loved drama, Blue Bloods."^[49]

Ratings