After Blue Bloods’ Season 14 Renewal And Budget Cuts, Donnie Wahlberg Explains How He’s Approaching The Show’s Future
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After what seemed like an eternity, CBS’ Blue Bloods landed an unbelievable Season 14 renewal. And while it came at the cost of budget cuts, it was still cause for celebration amongst fans. The series only recently wrapped its 13th season, though it's likely that some people are still pondering what may lie ahead for the show over the next few years. Amid the uncertainties brought upon by the altered production costs, series star Donnie Wahlberg -- who's set to take a pay cut this coming year -- weighed in on how he's approaching the show's future.
It's certainly impressive that Blue Bloods is going into its 14th season, and the CBS show's longevity is thanks in great part to the dedicated fans, also known as Blockheads. The changing television landscape and the amount of money now allocated to the cop procedural are enough to make one concerned about its survival, though. Donnie Wahlberg, who has portrayed Detective Danny Reagan since the premiere in 2010, tells Us Weekly that he’s merely living in the present following the renewal and would rather not worry about what could happen a year or two from now:
I’m an optimist. I try to take every episode as it comes. I really do. I think it’s part of why I’ve enjoyed myself on the show for 13 years. One of the things I’ve done is I try to just stay very present in each episode and take each script that comes my way and say, ‘OK, what’s gonna happen now? You know, what am I doing this week?’ And kind of find the journey in that particular episode and not get caught up in what’s gonna happen next year, what’s gonna happen in two years.
It makes sense to just focus on the present, as it's easy to get distracted when dwelling on the future. It probably wouldn't have behooved the actor to focus on that over the past few months, during which Blue Bloods was excluded from CBS' wave of renewals. The actor could've easily lost focus by thinking on what might happen down the road. But instead, he putting everything he could into this most recent batch of episodes.
Now, with the show now renewed, fans may want to take a page out of Donnie Wahlberg's book. After all, the mere fact that we're getting Season 15 should be appreciated, especially considering the stressful wait for news of the green light. But with the series recently hitting 250 episodes, I'd be lying if I said it wouldn't be nice to see Wahlberg, Tom Selleck and co. reach 300 before it ends.
Just because Donnie Wahlberg wants to live in the present, that doesn’t mean he’s not thinking about the future at all, however. He's clearly been discussing storytelling possibilities, some of which include his Danny Reagan and Marisa Ramirez's Maria Baez. The NKOTB alum recently previewed an intense episode involving the two detectives, and it could very well help build towards a romance between the two. If anything does finally happen between them, it will likely progress in Season 14. I for one am hopeful that such a relationship will come to fruition.
But more immediately, let's just enjoy the remainder of Blue Bloods Season 13, as that's what Donnie Wahlberg would probably recommend. You can check out new episodes when they air on Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS as part of the 2023 TV schedule. You can also stream past episodes using a Paramount+ subscription.
