Tom Selleck is still grappling with how to say goodbye to his iconic character, Frank Reagan.
The actor recently expressed his “frustration” over CBS’s decision to cancel Blue Bloods and feels the network may have taken the show for granted throughout its 14-year run.
“During those last eight shows, I haven’t wanted to talk about an ending for Blue Bloods but about it still being wildly successful,” Selleck, who portrays the NYPD commissioner in the CBS drama, said during an interview.
He continued by referring to an unspecified list of top shows from the 2023-24 season, stating, “If you discount the three football shows, we’re #6!”
While he acknowledged that he doesn’t want to “turn into a bitter old guy saying, ‘Get off my lawn,’” the actor admitted he is still coming to terms with the network’s decision to cancel such a successful show.
“If you were to say to the television network, ‘Here’s a show you can program in the worst time slot you got, and it is going to guarantee you winning Friday night for the next 15 years,’ it would be almost impossible to believe,” he explained.
“My frustration is the show was always taken for granted because it performed from the get-go.”
Selleck also shared that it will “take a long time to sort all of this out” and that adjusting to life without Blue Bloods will be a significant transition.
“I remember after the weekend [of the final episode’s shoot], I said, ‘I’ve got to get to bed early tonight because I have to do my dialogue for Monday.’ Well, there was no Monday. It’s just going to take a while,” he reflected.
Later in the interview, Selleck offered a glimpse into the show’s upcoming final episode, hinting at an emotional family reunion.
“The family dinner kind of reunites the Reagan family,” he shared. “Erin’s daughter Nicky [Sami Gayle] was there, and so was Jack [Tony Terraciano], Danny’s older son.
Everybody agreed with me that we should close the set for the family dinner and not exploit that.”
Selleck emphasized how meaningful the reunion was to him, as he considers the cast like family.
“There isn’t a single one of them who didn’t want to come back,” he said.
“Most shows don’t end that way — there’s petty jealousy and all sorts of things — and we seemed to overcome that. It’s something for everybody to hang their hats on and be proud of.”
