‘Blue Bloods’ Teases Return of Lou Diamond Phillips in First Look Photos

You cannot keep a mob hitman down, as Danny Reagan will soon learn in an upcoming episode of Blue Bloods. CBS released new photos from the Nov. 9 episode, revealing that Lou Diamond Phillips is returning.

During the season nine premiere, “Playing With Fire,” Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) finally caught the man who torched his house at the end of season seven, mob hitman Louis Delgado (Phillips). Danny had a chance to put him behind bars, but he botched an opportunity to get Delgado to confess on tape.

However, he did get enough evidence to help Erin (Bridget Moynahan) get a warrant for Delgado’s phone. They used the information to track down a drug sale, which the police busted. Danny made it look like Delgado was the snitch.

The next morning, a burned, headless body washed ashore. Danny and Baez (Marisa Ramirez) were convinced that the body was Delgado’s.

“Nothing is ever over,” Danny told Ramirez. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in the last year – closure is overrated.”

However, the new photos CBS released this week for the Nov. 9 episode “By Hook or by Crook” prove that Delgado is not dead. Two photos show Delgado looking over some merchandise, presumably the illegal kind.

According to the episode description, Danny finds out that Delgado is not dead, much to his surprise. There is also an attack on a police officer, which has a personal impact for a member of Frank’s (Tom Selleck) team. Meanwhile, Eddie (Vanessa Ray) finally introduces Jamie (Will Estes) to her mother, Lena (guest star Christine Ebersole). Erin also clashes with her new boss.

Aside from admitting to torching Danny’s house, Delgado also teased Danny about the death of his wife, Linda (Amy Carlson), who was killed in a helicopter crash.

“First your house burns up and then a chopper goes down — that’s some pretty bad mojo you carry around,” Delgado said in the episode.

It is not clear how Delgado would know Linda died in a helicopter crash… unless it was murder.

“The fact that Delgado brings it up certainly sounds alarms for Danny, and likely does for the audience as well,” showrunner Kevin Wade teased in an interview with TVLine.

In the real world, Linda was written out in the season eight premiere after actress Amy Carlson chose not to renew her contract. Wade has said Carlson and the character will not be back, since Blue Bloods has never featured a flashback.

“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 said in a TVLine interview. “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.”

While we might not see Linda on the show physically, her death has been one of the few Blue Bloods storylines to continue impacting the Reagan family week after week. Throughout season eight, Danny was shown struggling to pay the bills as a single father, which continued into season nine.

Blue Bloods airs on CBS Fridays at 10 p.m. ET.

Photo credit: CBS