Blue Bloods' well-rated series finale has aired amid the 2024 TV schedule, bringing the show to a close after 14 seasons. While it’s still hard to fathom that the show is over, its run was impressive. The procedural became a mainstay for CBS on Friday nights, and it’s partly because of the cast, which includes Tom Selleck. After playing Frank Reagan for over a decade, Selleck opened up about the "danger" of doing a show for so many years and how he avoided that while playing Frank Reagan.
It was, understandably, hard for Tom Selleck to wrap Blue Bloods. Yet he's obviously no stranger to saying goodbye to a long-held role, having starred on the original Magnum P.I. back in the ‘80s, which ran for eight seasons. Ultimately, BB wound up being his longest-running role, which is something to be proud of. Still, considering the work he's done, Selleck is well aware of the pitfalls one can face when playing a role for so long, as he told Entertainment Weekly:
All the work you do goes into a little something inside and broadens, hopefully, your perspective and your talent as an actor. I've always believed that the commitment an actor makes should appear to be, ‘Here goes nothing!’ Make it look like, ‘Here goes nothing.’ But it's really ‘Here goes everything.’ I would've thought that if I did a show for 15 years, the danger would be to get comfortable. ‘Okay, what are the jokes? I know this guy.’
For some actors, it would be hard to stay in the same role for so long, as you’re mostly flexing the same kind of acting muscles every single day. With that, there's a temptation to get too comfortable, and you may even become bored as a result, too. Luckily for the Jesse Stone icon, he never felt that way while playing Frank Reagan because, like all the characters on Blue Bloods, the longer the show went on, the more the characters evolved. And that's something the now-79 year-old actor really appreciated:
But I continued to learn about Frank Reagan and watch him evolve as a character for 15 years. I was never bored. I'm proud to say nobody in this cast ever phoned a performance in, and that was the real danger. And frankly, it's surprising if I would've started a show and I said, "15 years, I'm going to get bored." It never happens. I'm grateful to say, and the writers continued to see the evolution in the characters and let them grow and change. 15 years is a long time, and you change physically, you change every other way. You're just older. At a certain point, all those things entered into what I'll put in my little actor's handbook and use, because I certainly don't intend to stop working.
That might be the best benefit of a show airing for years. As a viewer, I enjoy seeing how characters evolve as the actors get older and learning more about them. Adding layers to them in organic ways can be hit or miss, but I'd argue that the BB writers and producers did a solid job of that. And, based on social media posts that have been shared over the years, fans relished that.
On that note, Selleck doesn't understand why CBS ended Blue Bloods and was also frustrated by the cancellation. His recent comments have suggested that the show meant a lot to him. Selleck previously spoke about the show’s longevity, and between the Reagan family dinners and the action. Despite the cancellation though, Selleck is aiming to do one thing:
My biggest goal is to make sure people realize we went out in rather spectacular success. It wasn't tired, it wasn't anything else. Somebody may be able to tell me someday why CBS wanted to end it, but I haven't had a good answer yet.
There have been rumored discussions of a possible Blue Bloods spinoff and, while nothing has been confirmed, it wouldn’t be surprising if CBS were to move forward with one. Even though it would be hard to match the OG show's success, I'm sure Tom Selleck would be game -- as long as his character doesn't become stale or predictable. Right now, you can stream BB using a Paramount+ subscription.