Donnie Wahlberg Fought for Danny and Baez

SPOILER ALERT: This publish comprises spoilers from “End of Tour,” the Dec. 13 collection finale of “Blue Bloods.”

After 14 seasons and 293 episodes, CBS’ “Blue Bloods” formally got here to an finish on Friday evening, airing its last episode.

The final hour didn’t exit with a bang; in reality, it felt a bit like the conventional episodes that followers have grown to like for the final decade and a half — with just a few large moments. The Reagan household was pressured to cope with an assault on the town and on police particularly. Both Eddie (Vanessa Ray) and Mayor Chase (Dylan Walsh) have been shot however survived; Eddie’s companion, Luis Badillo (Ian Quinlan), nonetheless, did not, being shot throughout a name together with her, leaving the Reagan household devastated.

Luckily, the finale ended with just a few large, blissful moments for the members of the Reagan household. Erin (Bridget Moynahan) determined to quietly remarry her ex-husband (Peter Hermann). Moments earlier than she was planning to share the information with the household, Eddie and Jamie (Will Estes) introduced they have been anticipating their first baby.

Meanwhile, Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) dipped his toe again into the relationship world for the primary time, after recommendation from Grandpa (Len Cariou), asking his companion Baez (Marisa Ramirez) out for pizza. Of course, some longtime viewers — myself included — have been curious if the present would deliver again his former companion Jackie (Jennifer Esposito) for a romance between them.

Wahlberg tells Variety that that risk “may need been thought of,” however he wasn’t a part of that dialog.

“It was essential to [producer] Kevin Wade to not have each partnership flip right into a relationship. And I revered that, and I agreed with it. I feel it was simply most likely essential for me personally that Danny grows,” mentioned Wahlberg. “As the viewers began type of clamoring for a relationship with Danny and Baez, I believed, it’s extra essential for them to develop and for her to start out making an affect on him, and him to essentially respect her in a manner that he hasn’t all the time revered sure individuals within the present.”

He felt it was crucial that the viewers know the way a lot love — “not at the same time as a pair, simply as human beings” — there was between the 2 characters.

“I feel that was quite a lot of me actually pushing. I pushed so much for some closure with that. I went to [writer] Siobhan O’Connor, and I used to be like, ‘Listen, you’ve received to do one thing. They don’t must go get married, however one thing could be good, simply to point out that there could also be a future for them, or that their relationship has actually developed,’” he defined.

O’Connor got here up with the scene between Danny and his grandfather and needed to shock the actor with it. “I did the scene with Len, and it was simply gold. You perceive he’s taking Grandpa’s recommendation. And I believed it was carried out magically,” he recalled. “I believed it was carried out with respect to the present. It wasn’t ‘Let’s tie this up with a pleasant bow.’ It’s just a bit nod to what might occur sooner or later for them.”

Tom Selleck, who performs Commissioner Frank Reagan and serves as an govt producer on the collection, “wasn’t a part of any of the discussions in regards to the finale” storylines, and was stunned by the whole lot that unfolded.

“Somewhere alongside the road, I got here to welcome [the surprises] as a result of Frank doesn’t know what’s coming to him,” he advised Variety.

Over the course of the ultimate season, many puzzled if Frank would retire from his function as commissioner. When requested whether or not or not Selleck is blissful he didn’t, the actor was stumped.

“I don’t know. I used to be by no means confronted with it. I feel there’s a narrative there. I do know that he hated the job. He hated the accountability, the burden on the shoulders. He didn’t need it. He didn’t audition for it when it initially got here up. So, it might have been attention-grabbing,” mentioned Selleck. “He couldn’t stop. I feel he must get himself fired. One factor he was blessed or cursed with was this hyperactive sense of accountability that he tried to implant on all people at that dinner desk.”

Wahlberg says that Frank’s emotions about his job added to the household dynamic by way of the years.

“It’s simply so essential that the patriarch of the household hates the job, however has the integrity and sense of accountability to do it to the perfect of his skill always,” he says. “And all of his youngsters have completely different emotions about it.”