Donnie Wahlberg, who plays Danny Reagan, opened up about filming the last of the show’s signature family dinner scenes.
Whatever drama is happening on Blue Bloods, you can count on one thing. Every week, the Reagans come together for a family dinner, where they reconnect and remember the importance of family.
Blue Bloods wouldn’t be Blue Bloods without those dinner table scenes, which are a way for both the show’s characters and its cast to bond. So, it was understandable that series star Donnie Wahlberg felt some complicated emotions after filming the series’ final dinner scene.
Donnie Wahlberg felt ‘intense humility’ after filming last ‘Blue Bloods’ family dinner scene
Last fall, CBS announced Blue Bloods would end with its 14th season. The show will take its final bow this fall, and the cast recently wrapped production on the last episodes. Saying goodbye after more than a dozen years was hard, Wahlberg confessed in a social media update.
“I’ve taken this walk thousands of times in 14 years and it was a teary final walk from the Blue Bloods dinner scene, last week,” Wahlberg wrote in his June 27 Instagram post. “More so than I could have ever imagined.”
The Danny Reagan actor admitted that there were “some sad tears” as he walked away from set “but mostly tears of immense humility.”
“It’s been a wonderful adventure,” he shared. “One that I know so many of us, and so many of you, wish could continue. My desire to carry on, however, is only surpassed by the amount of humility I feel for having been part of this wonderful journey at all. I’m so thankful.”
Wahlberg went on to thank those who’ve supported the show over the years, including the fans and crew, and said he was grateful to have a chance to film a show about “one of the greatest law enforcement departments ever” in “one of the greatest cities ever.”
“Thank you Blue Bloods faithful,” he wrote. “Til we meet again.”
Why the ‘Blue Bloods’ family dinners are so important
Blue Bloods cast members have opened up in the past about why the family dinners are so important, both to the show and to the actors. For one, they show the audience a lot about what is going on in the Reagan family.
“Dinner scenes are hard because your focus is not what you’re eating,” Tom Selleck, who plays patriarch Frank Reagan, told People earlier this year. “It’s really not even your lines, it’s your subtext. Audiences don’t care about the words, they want to see the subtext. The family dinners are loaded with subtext, and the audience is in on it because they’ve seen what the characters are going through.”
For the cast, coming together to film a dinner scene is not unlike getting together as a real family.
“There’s a genuine affection when we get together for dinner scenes,” Wahlberg told People. “There’s a genuine gratitude at that table. If anyone’s struggling, by the end of that dinner scene they’re back to being aware of how fortunate we all are.”
“The Reagans are fortunate to be together on Sundays and to be safe, to have made it through another week of a very dangerous job, and the cast is reminded of how fortunate we are as actors,” he added. “It’s an incredible blessing to have that dinner scene as a check-in every week, much like the Reagans do, fictionally.”
Blue Bloods Season 14 returns in fall 2024 on CBS.