‘Blue Bloods’: Why Tom Selleck Signed a 1-Year Contract With the CBS Drama

Tom Selleck signed a one-year deal to return to Blue Bloods for Season 10 because that’s what the network offered him, the actor said in an interview after the Season 9 finale aired earlier this month.

The legendary actor told Deadline on May 10 CBS did not offer him a two-year deal, as the show was only renewed for one additional season in April. However, Selleck made it clear he wished the eye network would make long-term decisions.

“Well, let me say publicly, they didn’t offer me a two-year deal, and I don’t know why,” Selleck explained on May 10. “I signed up for a year because that’s what they were offering. I love the show. Don’t tell CBS that because I got to be a good negotiator.”

Selleck was asked if he would think about leaving the show, but he feels a sense of duty to keep coming back. As he said, it’s not like they could just replace a character on the show with another random detective at the dinner table.

“Let me say that it’s not like you can get a new detective and bring him to the family dinner table,” the former Magnum P.I. star said. “These people are related. So, as long as my fellow actors wanted to come back, and that was my only real criteria, I was coming back.”

Selleck explained that he took his time to sign-on for another season because it “just took that long” to reach a deal with new CBS executives. However, he did pull off a big win during the talks, convincing CBS to announce Blue Bloods‘ renewal separately instead of in a batch with other renewals.

“One of the things I said is I want a separate announcement. I’m sick of this,” he said. “We picked up six shows, and oh, yeah, Blue Bloods is one of them from the network. I think we’ve earned our own announcement and we got that.”

As for how long Blue Bloods could last, Selleck suggested it could be “limitless” because the characters have changed over time. A Season 1 story involving Donnie Wahlberg’s Detective Danny Reagan would be different with a Season 10 Danny, he pointed out.

“Here, the simple fact is it was great to know the heart of our show wanted to come back,” Selleck said. “It’s also great to know, as far as I know so far, that we have the whole universe coming back. You’re talking about, from top to bottom, a cast of really good, strong actors playing all sorts of roles.”

Selleck got the individual Blue Bloods renewal announcement he wanted on April 12. The network also confirmed Selleck signed a one-year contract the same day.

Blue Bloods Season 9 ended back on Season 9 with the wedding of Sgt. Jamie Reagan (Will Estes) and Officer Eddie Janko (Vanessa Ray). Although the show has a good track record of pleasing fans, the finale left some annoyed because the episode ended before the couple exchanged vows on camera.

“[Blue Bloods showrunner Kevin Wade] and I have talked quite a lot about [Magnum P.I.], the final episode and things like this. We’re pretty much in sync all the time. That’s why in this season’s finale, we don’t show the whole wedding ceremony,” Selleck explained in his Deadline interview of the wedding. “How are we going to beat Charles and Di splendor or pomp? So you need some sort of conflict or concern or something to make that kind of scene work like with Eddie and Frank or something else.”

Blue Bloods will be back in the fall with Season 10.

Photo credit: CBS