They were feeling blue.
“Blue Bloods” star Donnie Wahlberg talked to The Post about filming the ending of the long-running hit procedural.
“Oh my gosh, it was really emotional,” Wahlberg, 55, told The Post, while promoting his ID show “Very Scary People” (returning Sunday, Dec. 15 ,at 9 p.m.).
“I think when we finished the final take of the final dinner scene, everyone just kind of sat there in silence. Secretly, we hoped someone would walk in and say ‘it was a joke, there will be 14 more seasons!’” Wahlberg said about “Blue Bloods.”
When his co-star, Tom Selleck, broke the silence and started speaking, “We all started crying,” he recalled.
“Blue Bloods” premiered in 2010. The police procedural follows the Reagan family, including NYPD Commissioner Frank (Selleck) and his son, NYPD detective Danny (Wahlberg). The cast also includes Len Cariou (PC Henry), Will Estes (Sgt. Jamie Reagan), Vanessa Ray (Officer Eddie Janko) and Bridget Moynahan (ADA Erin Reagan).
After a 14-year TV reign, the network announced last year that the successful show would end this fall.
Selleck has been vocal about his unhappiness that the show is ending. The series finale airs Friday, Dec. 13, at 10 p.m. on CBS.
Wahlberg revealed what Selleck said that brought out the waterworks for the rest of the cast.
“He said a poem. He kind of did that from time to time. He would have these old poems,” Wahlberg explained.
Selleck read the poem “The Man in the Arena,” originally written by Theodore Roosevelt, Wahlberg shared.
The poem reads, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds.”
The “Band of Brothers” actor said that it became “tradition” for Selleck to read the poem “every now and again.”
So “of course, he did it” after filming the final “Blue Bloods” scene.
“And I’m sitting next to him at the table looking at him… I think it hit me for the first time.”
In that moment, “A lot of life passed by me while he was speaking,” he recalled.
“I used to watch [Selleck in ‘Magnum P.I.’] as a kid with my parents, and my parents are gone. And that little kid is now here with this guy making this show. It’s a lot to process in the moment.”
Because “Blue Bloods” aired for 14 seasons, Wahlberg saw his fellow cast and crew members go through many life events, such as meeting and marrying their spouse, “including myself and Jenny,” he said, referring to former “The View” co-host Jenny McCarthy, who he married in 2014.
“In some ways, at least for myself and I suspect some of the other cast members, we really wanted the show to keep going,” the New Kids on the Block singer said. “And we wish we could have delivered that gift to the crew, because they were so good to us.”
“It hurt to not be able to tell them we’re going to keep going. I can’t tell you how many people every day and even guest actors would say, ‘My parents love it, and I watch it, and they’re so excited I’m going to be on the show.’”
CBS ending the show “was sad and difficult in that regard,” he said.
But, “I take that away from the show as the thing that makes me feel most gratitude. We were part of something that meant a lot to a lot of people.”
Wahlberg will put the Reagan’s dinner table in Wahlburgers, the restaurant chain he owns with his brothers, Mark and Paul.
“Personally, I think it should be in the Smithsonian. But if it’s not going to go there, I said, ‘Why don’t we try to do something great with it?” he told The Post.
“Carry on the tradition of of family dinners at that table with customers, with fans of the show… and maybe do something like ‘Blue Bloods Fridays’ where people can come and sit at that table with me, and have dinner in the restaurant. We’ll do it to raise money for the Widows and Children’s Fund.”
He added, “I thought it was important to carry on the legacy of it and to do something charitable for people who’ve sacrificed for New Yorkers.”
CBS hasn’t confirmed if “Blue Bloods” will have spinoffs, but there have been rumors.
If he was asked to appear in a spinoff, Wahlberg would sign on.
“I would say yes, depending on what the project was. It’s a lot to think about, because to do ‘Blue Bloods’ outside of New York, it’s going to have to be done carefully,” he revealed. “New York was a character in the show. So whatever is coming next, it’s going to have to keep that in mind.”
Wahlberg added, “Would I be open to it? Of course. I love the show. I love the character.”
