“Tom Selleck Speaks Out About ‘Blue Bloods’ Potential Cancellation”

The final eight episodes of Blue Bloods have already been filmed and are set to air on CBS starting Friday, October 18, bringing the series to a close after 14 successful seasons. While the show is ending on a high note, Tom Selleck, who plays NYPD Commissioner Frank Reagan, isn’t exactly thrilled with the decision.

“I’m kind of frustrated,” Selleck shared. “Even in the last eight episodes, I didn’t want to focus on the ending of Blue Bloods, but rather on the fact that we’re still wildly successful. We were in the Top 100 shows of 2023-2024 (we ranked #9 out of 100 in total viewers), and if you discount the three football shows, we were #6! I’m not going to turn into a bitter old guy, but if you told a network, ‘Here’s a show you can schedule in the worst time slot, and it will win Friday nights for the next 15 years,’ they’d have a hard time believing it.”

Selleck is baffled by the cancellation of Blue Bloods while the show was still drawing in impressive ratings. He believes the show’s early success may have led to it being taken for granted. “The frustration comes from the fact that the show was successful from the start, and because of that, it never really got the respect it deserved,” he said. “It’s going to take me a while to come to terms with all of this. After finishing the final episode, I realized, ‘I need to go to bed early tonight to prepare for Monday’s work.’ But there was no Monday.”

On the final day of shooting, which took place on Thursday, June 20, Selleck wasn’t required on set since he had already wrapped up his scenes. However, he made the effort to fly back to New York to be there for his cast and crew out of respect and camaraderie. “I watched the final scenes with Bridget [Moynahan], Steve [Schirripa], Donnie [Wahlberg], and Marisa [Ramirez],” Selleck recalled. “It was emotional, but I didn’t want to stay home; I felt I had to be there and share that moment.”

Interestingly, Selleck’s last scene was a family dinner—one of his favorite scenes to film throughout the show’s run. “My last scene was ironically a family dinner; it was also the first scene I shot 15 years ago!” he explained. “I’m not going to spoil the final episode, but that dinner symbolizes the reunification of the Reagan family. Erin’s daughter Nicky [Sami Gayle] and Jack [Tony Terraciano], Danny’s older son, were both there. We all agreed to keep the family dinner private; it was such an intimate moment.”

While family dinners on the show were known to take hours to film, Selleck reflected on how quickly it all came to an end. “I always wanted to say the poem Love Is Not All by Edna St. Vincent Millay. There were tears, and a lot of hugs. Donnie was really emotional; he didn’t say much. Bridget spoke, and just about everyone had something to say. Vanessa [Ray] was also really affected by the experience.”

Although CBS announced in November 2023 that Blue Bloods would be canceled, Selleck couldn’t accept the decision at the time. He had held out hope that the network would change its mind, as they had done with S.W.A.T. earlier.