Did you hear? Blue Bloods may be getting a spinoff! The CBS cop drama is one of a handful of titles in consideration for a “franchise extension,” according to an executive at Paramount, CBS’ parent company.
Paramount Global co-CEO Brian Robbins said during a shareholders meeting on Tuesday, June 4 that “in TV, new franchise extensions are coming for Dexter, Billions, and Blue Bloods.” TV Insider confirmed the validity of Robbins’ statement.
With no other details about the potential extension of the series, we’re left with our own thoughts. Here are a handful of Blue Bloods spinoff ideas that we think we would be fun for fans to see.
Danny & Baez Buddy Cop Series
Donnie Wahlberg and Marisa Ramirez’s detectives are a fan-favorite duo, and one that constantly has viewers wondering if they’re ever going to get together romantically. With Season 14 Part 2 being the final season of the original series, showrunner Kevin Wade doesn’t currently see enough time to make an interesting Danny and Baez romance.
“We put Jamie [Will Estes] and Eddie [Vanessa Ray] together a few years ago. I think the show would dip into parody if we had two of our cops marrying two of their partners who are getting into that,” Wade previously told TV Insider, adding that “there’s no great scenes in happy relationships.”
“The audience may think they want [a Danny and Baez romance], and perhaps they do, and perhaps I’m completely wrong,” he continued. “That’s always a strong possibility. But if we were to put them together and there’s a scene where they’re, I don’t know what, having dinner together and they’re happy, I don’t know what that is.”
Wade also sees Danny as a “loner” who’s “married to his work and who has the freedom and the latitude to do whatever he wants. Because unfortunately at home, there’s nothing much there.” It’s true that there’s not enough time to meaningfully change all of that in the final season, but a spinoff would crack open this possibility.
Some of the most beloved law enforcement partnerships on TV also have a romantic spin to them, like the will they-won’t they dynamic between Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler on Law & Order: SVU and the heat between Mulder and Scully on The X-Files. Allowing this fan-favorite pair to explore their onscreen chemistry as they work out how to balance detective perils with their personal lives may justify the potential spinoff in the eyes of fans. Wahlberg and Ramirez seem keen to get these two together as well.
“Donnie and Marissa, no matter what we write, manage to find ways to show that the two like each other more than as partners,” Wade said. “Let’s put it at that. They’re very good at engineering a subtextual relationship that the audience clearly gets.”
There also doesn’t necessarily need to be a romance for a Danny and Baez spinoff to be entertaining. Their work developments are often some of the show’s most high-stakes scenarios. A spinoff would allow them to go deeper into this work, and if it were a streaming exclusive show, the plot could get even more gritty.
Jamie & Eddie Family Drama
Blue Bloods‘ cop couple would also be good fodder for a franchise extension. Some fans previously shared with TV Insider that they’d like to see Estes and Ray’s characters as parents in a potential new series. It’s easy to see how shifting the focus from the Reagan family at large to just one growing section of the family would be an enterta ining story for fans that still honors the original show’s ethos.
Wade was interested in showing Jamie and Eddie in ways previously unseen in Season 14. Jamie and Eddie were finally on an undercover assignment together in the Part 1 finale in May, showing that the duo work together well. Seeing their working relationship evolve and their family grow could be a satisfying arc for longtime fans of the show and this couple. Another family-centric series would also make room to keep the Reagan family dinner tradition alive.
Jamie & Joe Spinoff
This idea would still involve Eddie, but would make the central relationship the one between Jamie and his nephew, played by Will Hochman. The uncle-nephew duo crossed hairs a couple of times in Season 14 as they both grieved the loss of Jamie’s brother/Joe’s dad in their own ways.
Joe came to the Reagan family late after not knowing his father’s family for the majority of his life. His relationship with Uncle Jamie has been the most consistently contentious since. If Tom Selleck‘s Frank Reagan weren’t part of the spinoff, we’d presume he would be retired from his position as police commissioner. If that’s the case, it could be interesting to see Jamie pick up the mantle and see how it affects his and Joe’s work and personal lives.
Wade told us that retirement is unlikely in Blue Bloods‘ final season. “We didn’t really pursue that avenue because the show is built on him being the police commissioner of New York City,” he said. He also noted that Jamie and Joe’s squabbles will continue in the final season as these “brothers,” as Wade described them, figure out how to work through their differences. Some fans may want to watch them work through said differences in a possible spinoff.
Erin Reagan Legal Procedural
The series could also take the legal route and switch over to a courtroom drama centered on Bridget Moynahan‘s Erin Reagan and her work at the D.A.’s office. There’s lots of crossover with the NYPD in her line of work, which would leave room for Reagan family cameos, and it would be a fresher setting while still providing the familial connection to the original series.
This would also be a chance to watch Erin work her way up the career ladder and see where she ends up, which could even lead to her running for political office such as the mayorship as she tries to do good for the city of New York.
Young Frank Reagan & Lenny Ross Prequel
Frank is so beloved, a spinoff about his early years in the force could be captivating. Fans have heard stories of his time on the force with detective partner Lenny Ross (played by the late Treat Williams). A flashback spinoff could bring this duo back to the screen as their younger, more scrappy selves as they prove themselves in their careers and work their ways up the force. This would also make Lenny’s death in Season 14 — as well as the inclusion of his struggling daughter Tess Ross, played by Simone Policano — all the more poignant.
It could also mean we could see Frank’s wife, Mary Margaret Reagan, as a character. She died prior to the events of Season 1. And it could show fans Len Cariou‘s character, Henry Reagan, in younger form and potentially still working as a cop himself.