Donnie Wahlberg Fought for That Danny and Baez Romantic Moment

[Warning: The following contains major spoilers for the Blue Bloods series finale, “End of Tour.”]

Blue Bloods ended its 14-season run with pleasure and sorrow Friday night time with the CBS procedural’s sequence finale. And for a lot of followers, one of many joys was watching Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg) ask out associate Maria Baez (Marisa Ramirez).

The romantic twist got here after Danny received grandfatherly recommendation from Henry Reagan (Len Cariou). “I at all times instructed you to not convey the job residence,” Henry instructed him. “But the issue now could be, you don’t have any one to not convey it residence to.”

Danny took Grandpa’s phrases to coronary heart, later asking Baez if she needed to get a pizza. And in a Variety post-finale debrief, Wahlberg mentioned he was “pushing” for that second.

“It was essential to [showrunner] Kevin Wade to not have each partnership flip right into a relationship. And I revered that, and I agreed with it,” the actor mentioned. “I believe it was simply in all probability essential for me personally that Danny grows. As the viewers began type of clamoring for a relationship with Danny and Baez, I assumed, it’s extra essential for them to develop and for her to start out making an affect on him, and him to actually respect her in a method that he hasn’t at all times revered sure folks within the present.”

Barbara Nitke / CBS

Wahlberg needed viewers to understand how a lot love there was between Danny and Baez — “not whilst a pair, simply as human beings,” he mentioned.

“I believe that was a number of me actually pushing,” he revealed. “I pushed lots 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 have to go get married, however one thing can be good, simply to point out that there could also be a future for them, or that their relationship has actually developed.’”

And so O’Connor scripted the grandfather-grandson dialog that put the pizza date in movement. “I did the scene with Len, and it was simply gold,” Wahlberg mentioned. “You perceive he’s taking Grandpa’s recommendation. And I assumed it was finished magically. I assumed it was finished 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 may occur sooner or later for them.”

Wade instructed TV Insider that he thinks it was a “lovely” ending for the pair that followers have lengthy hoped would get collectively. “Danny and Baez, I’m going to shout out to Siobhan, who wrote that story and I assumed it was completely a fantastic technique to open the e-book on that relationship, which was helped by the scene with Pop and Danny.

On X, many viewers celebrated the Danny-Baez improvement:

But not everyone seems to be a shipper:

And some viewers, in the meantime, have to see extra of the couple:

What did you consider Danny and Baez’s huge second? Was it the ending you hoped for? Let us know within the feedback beneath.

Blue Bloods, Streaming, Paramount+