“Blue Bloods” actors on show’s success, their close-knit on-screen family

As “Blue Bloods” enters its final stretch of new episodes, the Reagan family continues to capture audiences. Star Tom Selleck and the cast discuss the show’s lasting impact and the iconic family dinner scenes that have become a fan favorite. Each weekday morning, “CBS Mornings” co-hosts Gayle King, Tony Dokoupil and Nate Burleson bring you the latest breaking news, smart conversation and in-depth feature reporting. “CBS Mornings” airs weekdays at 7 a.m. on CBS and stream it at 8 a.m. ET on the CBS News app.

The Reagan law enforcement family of “Blue Bloods” is a tightly knit group, and longtime fans of the CBS drama are no doubt delighted to know that the cast of the show is also extremely close off the set. According to Donnie Wahlberg (who plays Danny Reagan), they’ve even grown into something of a family of their own over the years.

“The cast and the crew – there’s something about coming to work every day in New York with this crew that we have, many of whom have been here for the entire 14 years,” the actor said in an interview with Fox News. “They’re just incredible to work with. The cast is phenomenal. They’re like a real family.”

Because of this close relationship, Wahlberg said the Reagans’ famous family dinner scenes are just as meaningful to the actors as they are to the characters they play. In fact, these gatherings have come to serve the same function both on-screen and behind the scenes.

“Sitting down with the cast every week, it’s like the family gets together once a week to catch up, to talk about things, to talk about what’s going on in their lives, what’s going on in the world, and the cast of the show gets to do the same thing,” he said.

Wahlberg persistently built a familial rapport with Selleck

In addition to the cast and crew organically growing close over the years, Donnie Wahlberg has also done his fair share of the heavy lifting when it comes to fostering a family-style relationship — especially with the actor who plays his character’s father. “Tom Selleck, I call him [‘]Dad,[‘]” Wahlberg revealed. “At first he was kind of a little thrown by it for the first season or two, he’d be like, ‘Oh, hey, Donnie.’ Now it’s like, we’ve gotten so close. He’s literally like, ‘Oh, hey, son, how are you doing today?'”

Considering the closeness of the people involved, it must feel pretty strange that “Blue Bloods” was officially canceled by CBS, meaning Season 14 will end the series. For his part, Wahlberg confirmed that wrapping up will indeed be difficult but was confident that the show ending won’t end the relationships built over the many years filming it. “It’s like we’ve just become a real family, and it’s going to be a lot to not be with [them] anymore, but I’m sure we’ll stay connected after the cameras aren’t rolling,” he said.