Boston Blue

Boston Blue is an American police procedural drama television series that premiered its first season on CBS on October 17, 2025, which is set to consist of 20 episodes. Executive produced by and starring Donnie Wahlberg, the series is a spin-off of Blue Bloods focusing on his character Danny Reagan taking a position with the Boston Police Department. In December 2025, the series was renewed for a second season.

 Plot 
NYPD detective Danny Reagan takes a position with the Boston Police Department after a case involving his younger son Sean occurs. He is partnered with Lena Silver, the eldest daughter of a noted police family in that city and a "rising star".

She is the granddaughter of Reverend Peters, described as the prominent pastor of an historic Baptist church in Boston. He is the father of Mae Silver, Boston's District attorney, and also the grandfather of Superintendent Sarah Silver and new patrol cop Jonah Silver.

Cast and characters

Main
 Donnie Wahlberg as NYPD detective Danny Reagan
 Sonequa Martin-Green as Boston police detective Lena Silver, daughter of Mae and stepdaughter of Ben. Her biological father is said to be absent, and she chooses to complete her conversion to Judaism in honor of her stepfather in Season 1.
 Ernie Hudson as Reverend Edwin Peters, a Baptist pastor and Lena's grandfather
 Maggie Lawson as Sarah Silver, biological daughter of Ben and Lena's stepsister who serves as Boston PD's Superintendent of Detectives.
 Gloria Reuben as Mae Silver, the Boston District Attorney (officially the District Attorney of Suffolk County, Massachusetts), Lena's mother, and Sarah's stepmother, who converted to Judaism with her marriage to the late Ben Silver, a judge who was killed in front of a courthouse about a year before the series starts.
 Marcus Scribner as Jonah Silver, Sarah and Lena's younger half-brother and biological son of Mae and Ben, a Boston patrol officer partnered with Sean Reagan.
 Mika Amonsen as Sean Reagan, Danny's younger son, and now a Boston patrol officer; due to the NYPD temporarily pausing hiring new police offers. Sean moves to Boston to become the fourth generation of Reagans to become a police officer. Amonsen replaces Andrew Terraciano, who played the character in Blue Bloods.
Recurring
 Kenric Green as Charlie, Mae's chief of staff
 Xochitl Gomez as Penny
 Mike Vogel as Seth Yates, Sarah's boyfriend
 Matia Jackett as Phoebe, Seth's daughter
 Ryan Broussard as Detective Brian Rogers, Lena's old partner and new boyfriend

Crossover characters from Blue Bloods
 Bridget Moynahan as Erin Reagan, Danny's younger sister and a New York County Assistant District Attorney. (guest)
 Marisa Ramirez as Det. Maria Baez, Danny's old partner and new girlfriend. (recurring) Wahlberg announced in in February 2026 that she would also be in Season 2.
 Len Cariou as Henry Reagan, Danny's grandfather

Episodes

Production
Development
On June 4, 2024, Paramount Global co-CEO Brian Robbins said at a  presentation to company shareholders that there were plans for a "franchise extension" of Blue Bloods.

The show was not planned as a Blue Bloods spinoff, but had originally been proposed by writers Brandon Sonnier and Brandon Margolis as a drama titled after the Boston neighborhood Jamaica Plain focused on a transfer from the LAPD to Boston. In February 2025, CBS officially picked up the series right away for a full season for the 2025–2026 broadcast season.

The first episode was directed and produced by Anthony Hemingway.

On December 3, 2025, CBS renewed the series for a second season.

Casting
In addition to Wahlberg, CBS also announced the casting of Sonequa Martin-Green as a second main character in May 2025; the new character Lena Silver was originally referred to in announcements as Lena Peters, which would be the birth name of her mother's character. In May 2025, Ernie Hudson was cast as a series regular character for the series. Hudson had previously appeared on Blue Bloods playing another character in a guest role in 2018 in Season 8. In June 2025, Maggie Lawson, Gloria Reuben, and Marcus Scribner joined the cast in starring roles. In July 2025, Mika Amonsen was cast as a series regular character as Danny Reagan's younger son Sean, a recasting of the role played by Andrew Terraciano on the original show. In the same month, Bridget Moynahan joined the cast to again play her role as Erin as a special guest star and set to direct an episode as well. In November 2025, it was reported that Xochitl Gomez was cast in a recurring role.

Asked about participation in a possible spin-off, Tom Selleck said he was "open to suggestions because I love Frank Reagan," but added that he did not see the character retiring and going off to a small town.

Filming
Most of the filming is taking place in Toronto due to financial reasons amid broader challenges in the U.S. filming industry. Wahlberg said he pushed to do at least some filming in Boston, which took place in August 2025 at Fenway Park and Boston Common. "The goal is, let’s compromise to get the show made. We’ll work outside and do exteriors in Boston, and then you know, in success, perhaps we can come down there and be there full time," he told a Boston radio station.

 Release 
Boston Blue had its world premiere at MIPCOM Cannes on October 12, 2025. The series premiered on CBS on October 17, 2025; it is broadcast in the same Friday 10:00 p.m. ET/PT time slot that Blue Bloods aired in for the majority of its run.

Reception
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 80% based on 10 critic reviews. Metacritic gave the series an average score of 64 out of 100 based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable".

Aramide Tinubu of Variety wrote in her review: "Boston Blue has enormous shoes to fill, considering the 14-year run of Blue Bloods. Yet, in the episodes screened (critics received two for review), it is clear that this new show has the foundation to go all the way." Diedre Johnson of TheWrap wrote in her review: "Despite a new cast and setting, CBS’s Boston Blue has all the bones of the original series." Joel Keller of Decider wrote in his review: Boston Blue was eye-rollingly frustrating to watch, because it feels like showrunner Brandon Margolis and his writing staff took every contrived, cliched way to create a spinoff of a hit series they could dream up, making for a story that feels like it came straight from a spinoff episode you might have seen in the 1980s." Kristen Baldwin of Entertainment Weekly wrote in her review: "Sometimes, the best thing a show can do is deliver exactly what the viewers want — nothing more, nothing less. And that’s just what CBS does with Boston Blue, the new spinoff of its long-running, much-loved drama, Blue Bloods."

Ratings

References

Other websites

Category:2025 American television series debuts
Category:2020s American drama television series
Category:American English-language television shows
Category:Blue Bloods
Category:CBS crime dramas
Category:CBS legal dramas
Category:Television shows set in Boston
Category:Television series by CBS Studios
Category:Fictional portrayals of the Boston Police Department
Category:American television spin-offs
Category:American television series about families
Category:Fiction about Jews and Judaism
Category:Jewish American television series
Category:Television series about prosecutors