Boston Blue got off to a strong start after that recasting with Donnie Wahlberg‘s Danny visiting Boston because his son suffered a serious injury.
In the series premiere, which aired on Friday, October 17, Sean’s (Mika Amonsen) night out with friend Jonah somehow led to them saving people stuck in a burning building. Amid the heroics, Sean was thrown by an explosion and ended up in a coma.
Danny traveled from New York to Boston to be with his son — and somehow ended up solving a murder with Jonah’s sister, Lena (Sonequa Martin-Green). Danny received a visit from his sister, Erin (Bridget Moynahan), who supported him by remaining at Sean’s bedside.
At the end of the episode, Danny and Erin started praying just in time for Sean to wake up. Sean couldn’t speak yet, but Danny made it clear he was “not going anywhere.”
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Amonsen made debut as Sean three months after news broke that the role of Wahlberg’s youngest son was recast. Sean was originally played by Andrew Terraciano on Blue Bloods before Boston Blue premiered.
“Sean has relocated to Boston to start a new chapter as a Boston PD patrolman,” read a description from CBS. “Sean committed himself to pursuing his family’s legacy but wanted to do so on his own terms, which meant joining a department outside of his hometown. Danny’s decision to stay in Boston gives this father and son duo a chance to reconnect on a deeper level.”
Viewers met Danny on Blue Bloods, which ran from 2010 to 2024. The spinoff is expanding Danny’s perspective after fans became invested in his story — especially with love interest Maria Baez (Marisa Ramirez), who appeared in the Boston Blue premiere.
“I kept saying to myself, you know, if I’m really sincere about wanting Blue Bloods to carry on, here’s an opportunity to do it,” Wahlberg, 56, told Fox News Digital in June about whether saying yes to Boston Blue was a “challenge.”
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Wahlberg was also asked about how much crossover there would be between Blue Bloods and Boston Blue.
“The viewers are saying, ‘How do we keep going with a Blue Bloods spinoff without the whole family?’” he noted. “And I share that. How do we do that, right?”
According to Wahlberg, there have been conversations about how Boston Blue will respect its Blue Bloods origins. Wahlberg went on to say that any other member of the Reagan family is just a “phone call away.”
“Now, it’s just Danny going to this new world, but I can’t say a lot about it — but I could say, if he’s a Reagan, it will never be just Danny,” he shared at the time. “There’ll always be a Reagan a phone call away.”
Wahlberg continued: “And the traditions that the Reagans have, Danny wouldn’t abandon those traditions.”
Blue Bloods is currently streaming on Paramount+. Boston Blue airs on CBS Fridays at 10 p.m. ET.
