‘Blue Bloods’ Showrunner Explains Why Danny and Baez’s Relationship Goes in Surprising Directions (Exclusive)

Throughout several seasons, Blue Bloods fans watched a romantic relationship bloom between Jamie and Eddie, and some have wanted the same to happen for Danny and Baez. That has not happened yet, although we have seen hints as they spend more time together outside work. In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com, showrunner Kevin Wade explained why Danny and Baez’s relationship had evolved so differently from Jamie and Eddie’s.

Jamie and Eddie’s romantic relationship took a natural turn, Wade noted. When the writers saw how well Will Estes and Vanessa Ray worked together, “what the actors were doing was leading us somewhere,” Wade explained. They never thought about the two characters getting together, never mind marrying. “But as we watched it evolve over the seasons, we thought, well, this is a natural thing, and the audience, I’m sure, is thinking the same thing that we the writers were,” Wade said.

The executive producer admitted there is a “trap in marrying people or putting them together” in the case of Danny and Baez, played by Donnie Wahlberg and Marisa Ramirez, respectively. He also pointed out that making them a happy couple could be boring. Sure, Jamie and Eddie have plenty of scenes where they are happy, but the drama between them is usually the most exciting part of their stories.

In a practical sense, Wade and the writers have to come up with over 20 episodes each season, so they “try to make them fresh and involving,” which is not easy. Wade also pointed out that Jamie is the exception to the Reagan rule. Most of them end up alone because they are dedicated to their jobs.

“They are out there; they’re married to their jobs,” Wade explained. “And that goes back beyond Blue Bloods to the sort of classic model of the American private eye or the dedicated cop. There is always, [in] any good cop movie, the guy on the verge of retirement, his wife divorced him years ago. He’s either battling the bottle, or he already beat that bottle, and they’re alone. That’s partly what drives them to be good at their jobs.”

Wade agreed that it is more interesting to keep Danny and Baez’s relationship professional and friendly. Baez already joined the rare club of non-Reagans at the Sunday family dinner. Wade pointed out that people would bring friends to dinner in the real world, and it wouldn’t just be for an exclusive club.

“In the real world, you’d… invite your partner from work, your friend, a visiting relative, or an old friend [to dinner],” Wade said. “It would be like, ‘Oh, you’re going to be in town this weekend, come to dinner.’ So once we loosen that from being kind of a star chamber to being just like a family dinner, it gave us opportunities to start mixing it up a little bit.” There will be another guest at the dinner table before the season is out. They are a “significant recurring character,” but that’s all Wade would say.

Wade gave a thoughtful answer for why Jamie and Eddie haven’t expanded their family yet. While many expect them to have a baby soon after marrying, Wade noted that this would create story complications. “In a practical application, once you make a police officer pregnant, she’s bound by the rules to have a desk job after a certain point,” Wade explained. “So while the wishes there, the actual manifestation would handicap our storytelling with Vanessa and Will.”

Blue Bloods airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS, with past episodes available to stream on Paramount+. The next new episode, “Hidden Motive,” airs on April 1. It is the first episode directed by Bridget Moynahan, who stars as Erin.