'Blue Bloods' Hints That Linda's Death Was Not an Accident

During the Blue Bloods season 9 premiere, Detective Danny Reagan did not just find out who torched his house. He also might have learned that his wife Linda was murdered.

In the premiere, Mexican cartel hitman Louis Delgado (Lou Diamond Phillips) took credit for burning down Danny's house at the end of season 7. Later on, he rubbed Danny's string of bad luck in his face.

"First your house burns up and then a chopper goes down — that's some pretty bad mojo you carry around," Delgado told Danny (Donnie Wahlberg).

This line launched plenty of questions in the minds of Blue Bloods fans. Was Delgado just egging Danny on? And how did he know about the details of the death of a police officer's wife? Did Delgado just admit that Linda (Amy Carlson) was murdered?

Showrunner Kevin Wade told TVLine that the Delgado's comment was meant to startle Danny and viewers at home.

"The fact that Delgado brings it up certainly sounds alarms for Danny, and likely does for the audience as well," Wade said.

Unfortunately, Danny cannot question Delgado about what he meant. In the episode's climax, Danny made it look like Delgado was a snitch who helped the police stop a drug bust. The cartel quickly reacted by decapitating Delgado and throwing him in the Hudson River.

Linda Reagan was killed offscreen between seasons 7 and 8. During the season 8 premiere, Danny told his therapist that Linda died in a helicopter crash while helping a patient. Wade and his team were forced to write Linda off the show after Carlson chose not to renew her contract.

"We were in a tough position there. I was between a rock and a hard place, because the simple fact of the matter was that the actress decided not to renew her contract," Wade previously told TVLine. "And because [Carlson's decision] happened after we'd wrapped the previous season, we really had very little wiggle room there, but we did the best we could with a tough situation."

Wade also said the day of Linda's death will likely never be revisited, since Blue Bloods has never done a flashback and they do not intend to suddenly write one. Of course, that does not stop the writers from revealing more details about her death in new episodes. After all, it took them more than a season to circle back to solving the mystery of Danny's house fire.

Linda's death also made Danny a single dad, a plot explored throughout season 8. He also visited Linda's grave in the season finale.

New episodes of Blue Bloods air on CBS Fridays at 10 p.m. ET.

Photo credit: CBS