Ernie Hudson hopes Blue Bloods fans can suspend their disbelief about him returning to the universe — with a brand new role — in Boston Blue.
During an exclusive interview with Us Weekly, Hudson, 79, recalled appearing in a 2018 episode of Blue Bloods before booking Reverend Peters in CBS’ spinoff, joking, “That was a character who looked like me and I think he was distressed.”
Hudson acknowledged the difference in roles.
“I haven’t seen that episode [of Blue Bloods] — if ever — but no. So it was a very, very different character,” he explained. “This is a different family — obviously — in Boston. This guy is a just very, very different guy than I remember that character to be. I never like to say, ‘Forget anything I’ve done.’ But it’s just a very different universe and different world.”
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Blue Bloods, which premiered in 2010, followed the lives of the Reagan family, many of whom worked for the NYPD under the leadership of NYC police commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck). Frank and his father, Henry Reagan (Len Cariou), were central to the show alongside Frank’s children: daughter Erin Reagan (Bridget Moynahan) and sons Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and Jamie Reagan (Will Estes).
After Blue Bloods came to an end in 2024, CBS expanded with Boston Blue, which follows Danny’s character as he makes the switch from working with the NYPD to helping the Boston P.D. In addition to Danny, Boston Blue introduces the Silver family — including Reverend Peters.
“This is a guy who is — in my mind — just very committed to the community. He is certainly involved in his church community, even though his family has converted to Judaism, which is kind of interesting for him coming from generational traditions,” Hudson noted of his character. “But I think I like the idea of bringing that perspective into law enforcement.”
As Boston Blue continues, viewers will see more of the role that Reverend Peters plays, adding, “So much of the police work is coming out of the community. That’s the community that I serve and the community that I want to be properly represented. There’s already a couple of situations where a member of my congregation is struggling with certain things and how do you intervene?”
Hudson continued: “He is involved but in a different way. Andthey’ve been able to bring that in but to not cross over into me trying to be the police. It is about me really wanting to serve the community and see that they receive justice in the right way. We got the letter of the law but then you also get the spirit of the law — and sometimes that gets overlooked.”
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The actor was thrilled to join a project that is so rooted in family.
“What I did like in the episodes I saw of Blue Bloods is that it was really about the family. They played an important role in it and I’ve always been fascinated with that — just even in my own life,” Hudson said. “Not growing up with a large family or having parents, it’s always been something that I must say that I struggle with but also something that I’ve tried to make sense out of being a father and now a grandfather and a great grandfather.”
While Boston Blue has similarities to Blue Bloods, Hudson urged viewers to see the spinoff as its own entity, sharing, “That’s what I think humanity is. It’s that realization that we’re all pretty much in the same mix.”
He added, “We’re all tied together where sometimes it’s easy to look at people as being different and some people deserving of more and other people less and all that. We want to put people in categories but I think — what TV does very well — is we get a chance to look at these people and get inside of them. In doing so, we discover ourselves. If you can initiate any changes from that understanding, that to me is the magic of what makes it worthwhile.”
Blue Bloods is currently streaming on Paramount+. Boston Blue airs on CBS Fridays at 10 p.m. ET.
