The Boston Blue creative team is standing by the decision to recast Donnie Wahlberg‘s son Sean.
During the series premiere on Friday, October 17, some viewers may have been surprised to see Mika Amonsen in the role of Sean after the character was originally played by Andrew Terraciano on Blue Bloods.
“We love Andrew and the work he did over the years on Blue Bloods. Really, it came down to we’re telling a new chapter in both of their lives,” coshowrunner Brandon Margolis told Variety. “It’s not just Sean who has joined the family business as it were and is turning over this new leaf, but it’s also now Danny Reagan is the father [of] a cop, which he’s never been before.”
Margolis called the switch “an organic opportunity to bring in a new performance with a new energy, to help dramatize that change.” The writers’ room was looking forward to “new storytelling lanes to explore” with the spinoff series.
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“It is the same character, it’s the same relationship, but it’s also completely different,” he continued. “We love what Mika has brought to Sean, this vulnerability, yet this desire to prove himself. It’s just been great to watch it come to life.”
In a separate interview with TVLine, Margolis noted that he “loved” watching Terraciano “grow up on TV,” adding, “It creatively made sense to find an actor with a different energy.”
He concluded: “And to your point, yeah, it was a gamble to open the show on a new face — two new faces, actually — but the story required us to love him right away. Opening with that heroic moment that has a tragic end was the right way to pull Danny Reagan into this world.”
Amonsen made his debut as Sean three months after news broke that the role of Wahlberg’s youngest son was recast.
“Sean has relocated to Boston to start a new chapter as a Boston PD patrolman,” read a description from CBS at the time. “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 originally met Danny on Blue Bloods, which ran from 2010 to 2024. Boston Blue is expanding Danny’s perspective after fans became invested in his story — especially with love interest Maria Baez (Marisa Ramirez), who appeared in the 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, and he even hinted that any other member of the Reagan family is on speed dial.
“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.
