Tom Selleck still hasn’t gotten over “Blue Bloods” ending in 2023, and neither have fans of the show.
He was forced into retirement after hanging up his role as the moral compass, steadfast NYC Police Commissioner Frank Reagan, after 14 seasons.
In fact, both Selleck and his co-star Donnie Wahlberg, who portrayed his character’s hot-headed son, Detective Danny Reagan, were both vocal about keeping the show on air.
Almost two years later, Selleck is reflecting on the show’s cancellation that some say came too early
During an appearance on Ted Danson’s podcast, “Where Everybody Knows Your Name, the former “Magnum, P.I.” star even revealed one major sacrifice the cast took in order to keep the series alive.
“‘Blue Bloods’ was a labor of love,” he said during the July 29 episode.
“The real truth to that is in the last year of [Blue Bloods], at our last family dinner, everybody wanted to come back. We’d already taken a 25 percent cut in salary. We’d already done all sorts of things to keep the show going.”
The 81-year-old later explained how “frustrating” it was considering “Blue Bloods” success, sitting in the No. 6 spot on the list of top 100 shows.
Still, after shooting 293 episodes, many of which had the same cast members since “Blue Bloods” 2010 inception.
CBS announced in November 2023 that the 14th season would be the final season, airing in 2024.
“Nobody wanted to leave. Everybody was gonna stay on,” Selleck recalled. “That’s hard to get. It may be some kind of record to have the same cast intact for that length of time.”
The 81-year-old has been on plenty of shows where egos can become an issue on set, but “Blue Bloods” didn’t have that problem.
“If it wasn’t a family it would be different,” he explained. “But you couldn’t very well replace Jamie or Danny or anybody with another actor.
Fans responded to Selleck once again saying he didn’t want the show to end.
One person wrote, “Best show on television. CBS is delusional for canceling this show. If there was ever a time when we needed a show that put family first, this is it!”
Someone else typed, “There really no question why the TV networks are failing. They ignore the reality of what the public wants.”
A third person wrote, “I’ve continued to hope CBS would realize how important. Blue Bloods was to its viewers! I’m heartbroken over the cancellation!”
Just a few months after the cancellation was announced, Selleck broke his silence and told TV Insider that it was an “honor and privilege” to work on “Blue Bloods.”
But even then he didn’t hold back about his true feelings.
“CBS will find an awful lot of people aren’t ready to say goodbye to it,” he said. “The show’s more popular than ever, and I think [numbers] will increase with the interest this year. We’re certainly not out of ideas.”
One month after news came out about the cast taking pay cuts in 2023, Wahlberg told UsWeekly that he was optimistic about the show’s future.
He said, “Law and Order: SVU, I mean, Ice-T and Mariska Hargitay have been going for gosh, so many years and we hope to last as long as they have.”
There has since been a spinoff of the series called “Boston Blue” in which Wahlberg has reprised his role as Danny Reagan.
It’s been on for two seasons, but Selleck doesn’t seem as interested in being a part of that show.
In a November 2025 interview with Hour Detroit, he said, “I don’t know if I would do ‘Boston Blue’ — that’s another show.”
He added, “I think it’s partly my lot in life to make sure ‘Blue Bloods’ has its place in television history, but I don’t think it’s my lot in life to keep playing Frank Reagan.”
He has since mentioned that he wouldn’t mind playing in a comedy or a western.
According to his IMDb, he recently narrated a 2026 documentary about the Founding Fathers called “Revolutionary America.”
