“[It’s] the perfect place [for her] because there’s just the loveliest simplicity in that. She’s content and satisfied and fulfilled right where she is,” Hawk explained. “She’s fought against it and she’s come back [to her role]. Kind of [how] Frank is like, ‘Today, I don’t want to be commissioner,’ but you know that he’s gonna be like, ‘All right, fine. I actually do want to be commissioner and I’m enjoying it.’”
The actress joked that Baker “squirms and she wriggles” back and forth over her position at 1 Police Plaza (or 1PP) but it’s part of who she is. “She realizes how much freedom and power she actually has and goes, ‘OK, this is, this is good,’” Hawk added.
She noted that “selfishly as an actor, I will always want what’s next for her, but I think it just leaves it so beautifully wide open and you guys get to fill in the blanks over what she becomes.”
Hawk might be content with Baker’s goodbye, but she revealed to Us that the cast would’ve continued with a season 15 if given the chance. (CBS confirmed in November 2023 that part 2 of season 14 will be the end for Blue Bloods. The series finale will air in December.)
“None of us wanted the show to end. Every single one of us, regardless of whatever rumors were flying around, was very ready, willing, and able to continue working,” Hawk said. “Most especially Tom and Len [Cariou].”
Hawk, who has been part of the series since its premiere in 2010, insisted that Selleck, 79, and Cariou, who plays former Commission and Frank’s pop, Henry Reagan, don’t want to retire.
“He’s not ready to retire. He’s 85 years young,” she said of Cariou, noting, “One of the coolest things about our show, aside from like the family dinners and aside from [the fact that] obviously these people are beloved, is that we show that age is really just a number.”
Despite the bittersweet ending to the series, Hawk told Us that fans will be “very happy about a development” that transpires before it wraps. She played coy about who was involved in the big milestone, but teased the whole show comes “full circle.”
She revealed that “there are some players that return” and some “familiar faces that people will be excited” to see back as well.
Hawk added that there aren’t any “Easter eggs” in the last eight episodes that will be “teased” for viewers to try and “catch” on screen.
“We of course absolutely adore our fans, but it’s not like we’re trying to [have] some kind of mystery,” she explained. “It’s not anything crazy or, like, out of the ordinary. … There’s nothing being planted in a coffee mug or written on some piece of paper that people are gonna have to look for.”
Hawk joked that fans don’t need to be a sleuth, but instead suggest that viewers “just have your wine and your popcorn and just live your best life. Just enjoy it for what it is.”
Blue Bloods’ second half of season 14 premieres on CBS Friday, October 18, at 10 p.m. ET.