[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Boston Blue series premiere, “Faith and Family.”]
Blue Bloods fans were given a shocking development when CBS announced that Sean Reagan was being recast in the Boston Blue spinoff earlier this year. Andrew Terraciano played Sean in Blue Bloods, and then Mika Amonsen made his debut as Sean in the Boston Blue series premiere on Friday, October 17. Now that the episode is out, the show’s creators are opening up about this casting changeup.
In Boston Blue, Donnie Wahlberg reprises his role as NYPD Detective Danny Reagan, who takes a position with the Boston Police Department and is paired with Detective Lena Silver (Sonequa Martin-Green), the eldest daughter of a prominent law enforcement family. The Silver family is comprised of Boston District Attorney Mae Silver (Gloria Reuben), Police Superintendent Sarah Silver (Maggie Lawson), rookie cop Jonah Silver (Marcus Scribner), and renowned Baptist pastor Reverend Edwin Peters (Ernie Hudson). As Reagan settles into his new city, he also hopes to reconnect with his younger son, Sean (Amonsen), who is beginning his own career in Boston.
Brandon Sonnier and Brandon Margolis, known as “The Brandons,” co-created Boston Blue. They explained their decision to recast Sean to TV Insider.
“We wanted a slightly different version of Sean,” Margolis said. “We wanted a character that feels familiar, an actor that does resemble the character that we watched grow up. But as you saw in the pilot, he has made some life changes and having joined the police force, he is really picking up that family mantle.” They added that they wanted to “join the story in progress.”
Boston Blue began with Sean and Jonah out with friends when they witnessed a fire in a building. The rookie cops jumped into action to save people from the building, and they both got injured in the process, though Sean moreso than Jonah. Thankfully, Sean woke up from his injuries in the hospital by the end of the series premiere, and his dad was by his side. Danny is staying in Boston for the time being to look over his son, while his new girlfriend, Maria Baez (Marisa Ramirez), stays home in New York — yes, they finally went there with Danny and Baez.
Danny will be staying in Boston as long as his son still needs him there, he said in the series premiere. Coming up on Boston Blue, Sean and Jonah will be fighting for dominance on their first official days as Boston police officers.
Boston Blue, Fridays, 10/9c, CBS