‘Blue Bloods’ Star Donnie Wahlberg Reveals If Character Danny Reagan Will Date Again (Exclusive)

Fans have fallen in love with Blue Bloods star Donnie Wahlberg and his character as NYPD Det. Danny Reagan, but there is one question that lingers on everyone’s mind is: Will Reagan ever date again following the passing of his wife, Linda Reagan (played by Amy Carlson)? The long-running series now in its 10th season, gave fans an unexpected twist during the Season 8 premiere when writers revealed Linda had passed away. Not only did this come as a shock to faithful viewers, but it seems as though everyone had fallen in love with the TV couple — including Wahlberg, who weighed in on whether his character would ever date again in a PopCulture.com exclusive.

“Yeah. I think eventually it’ll happen. But I just think, you know, the audience had such a love and respect for Danny and Linda, and I think it, whatever it is, just has to be authentic,” Wahlberg expressed to PopCulture.com. “I think if it’s a stunt or it’s done for the wrong reasons, I think the audience won’t like it to be honest with you.”

He continued to detail how if Danny does choose to show interest in another woman, the love needs to be organic and incredibly “special,” even expressing that off-screen, everyone involved in the show would need to “approve” of as well.

“It definitely needs to be organic and it needs to be something,” Wahlberg added. “I think offscreen we’d all have to approve of the relationship that was going to take place onscreen. I think if Danny just started dating the wrong person for the wrong reasons it could be dramatic. It could be interesting to play as an actor, to see someone making the bad choices and having you to pay the consequences for that.”

However, while Wahlberg isn’t ruling out the possibility, he didn’t fail to mention that he also doesn’t believe it would be true to his character if Reagan did move on with another woman. “I don’t think for this particular show, it’s right,” he added. “I don’t think that would be true to Danny Reagan to be honest with you. He loved Linda and I think for someone to take her place on that show, it better be really special or it’s just not worth doing it.”

Ten years later, Wahlberg is still playing his character — something he didn’t expect when he first joined the cast. However, he did know that there was something special about this series the minute he read the script. One particular moment of this show that spoke to him the most was the dinner table scene, a signature favorite among fans.

“I have to say, I had a great feeling of Blue Bloods from the very first time I read it,” the New Kids on the Block member said. “I read the family dinner scene and said, ‘I want to be on that show.’ It was so authentic and it reminded me of my childhood growing up at the family dinner table with all those kids and my brooding dad with his mustache at the head of the table, it just totally took me to such an authentic place.”

While he plays a detective on screen, Wahlberg joined forces with real-life first responders for Target’s Heroes & Helpers program that pairs public safety partners with more that 15,000 underserved kids at nearly 400 Target stores around the U.S. to help them shop for holiday gifts for their families.

“I partnered with Target for Heroes and Helpers because it pretty much checks off every box of what’s right and what’s good to do at holiday time in terms of giving back, [also] in terms of building bridges in the community,” Wahlberg explained, coming from a person who continually makes it a point to give back to others on a regular basis. “They’ve probably given away $5 million in Christmas gifts to children who really could use the gifts and it’s just something that, for me, growing up in an underserved community and an underserved household with nine kids who didn’t always have an assurance that we’d have a roof over our heads, to be part of something like this — I don’t really feel like I’m donating myself to it. I feel honored to be associated with it to be frank.”

Wahlberg continued to express how great it is these kids get to work with first responders one-on-one because that’s going “to pay dividends, not only in lifting their spirits now, but in changing their perception of things in the years to come.”