‘Boston Blue’ Bosses Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier Break Down Series Premiere, Including Surprise Return (Exclusive)

Spoilers ahead for the series premiere of Boston Blue.

Boston Blue is finally here, and creators and showrunners Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier spoke to PopCulture.com about how things kicked off.

The Blue Bloods expansion premiered on Friday, centering on Donnie Wahlberg’s Detective Danny Reagan taking a new job with the Boston PD.

Along with Wahlberg, Boston Blue also stars Sonequa Martin-Green as Detective Lena Silver, Maggie Lawson as Police Superintendent Sarah Silver, Marcus Scribner as rookie cop Jonah Silver, Gloria Reuben as Boston District Attorney Mae Silver, Ernie Hudson as renowned Baptist pastor Reverend Edwin Peters, and Mika Amonsen as Danny’s son, Sean Reagan. Fans got to see what the Silver family is all about and why Danny and Sean are in Boston with this first episode, and it certainly brought the action, with a little bit of Blue Bloods and some surprises. Check out what the Brandons had to say about the new series. (Interview has been edited for length and clarity.)

PopCulture: In the premiere, Sean is now a rookie police officer in Boston because of a hiring freeze in the NYPD, we learned, and his instincts at the beginning of the episode kick in when he sees a fire, but then he gets hurt, which leads Danny to come to Boston. How did you land what would be bringing him to Boston, and why?

Brandon Margolis: Truly, the decision of how all this came together to bring Danny to Boston always comes back to family. I think for the Reagans, that’s the only thing that would move the needle in such a way where we get somebody to drop everything, if there was a family emergency. So for us, Sean is turning over a new leaf and starting a new chapter in his life outside of the city was an interesting way for us to sort of launch Danny into a new version of his character that’s sort of different from what we’ve seen in Blue Bloods for 14 seasons, where he was the son of a cop or the brother to a cop, but never the father to a cop before.

And for us, that was an important distinction to make because it allows us to tell new family stories wrapped up as a police procedural, whereas he has to appreciate sort of the stress of having a son wear the badge and be out there putting his life at risk and what it means for Reagans to have somebody else to rely on while they’re doing that job. So that was sort of the genesis of how, if you’re ever gonna justify why Danny Reagan would leave New York for Boston of all places. The answer was always gonna be family.

PC: It was a pleasant surprise seeing Maria [played by Marisa Ramirez] towards the beginning of the episode and seeing how well she and Danny are doing since the series finale of Blue Bloods. Even though Danny is now staying in Boston, could we be getting her back for future episodes?

Brandon Sonnier: The answer is yes. They are in a relationship. We saw the beginnings of that relationship with the finale of Blue Bloods. And as an expansion of the universe, those lives, those relationships have continued. And so it’s very exciting for us to be able to drop into their relationship and to keep it going.

PC: We already knew that Bridget [Moynahan] would be returning for the premiere, and it was so great seeing Erin and Danny together again. How did you decide that Erin would be the one to come to Boston to be there for Danny?

Margolis: For us, it really came down to the story we were telling was having Danny drop everything and drive quickly to Boston and sort of throw himself into this case to sort of shoot to hide from the pain of what was going on. So we imagined what he’d tell his family about Sean and his situation. In our minds, he would say, “I gotta handle them. You don’t have to come. You don’t have to be here.”

And of all of the characters who would say, “Screw that. I’m on my way to check on you,” it’d be Erin. She’s such a caretaker for him whether he wanted it or not, whether he knew he needed it or not over those 14 seasons that it made sense to us that she would come and see for herself how Sean was doing, but more importantly in the moment, see how Danny was doing because she knew the type of guy he was and how he was gonna handle things.

So it just felt like this organic opportunity for his sister to come check in on him, but also let viewers know that, again, this is an expansion of Blue Bloods. These characters still exist even though we’re spending our time in Boston, the Reagans are still living their lives in New York, and it’s a short drive.

PC: Going off of that, are there plans to bring back other Reagans?

Sonnier: Yes. We are excited to be able to bring back the other characters that we’ve known and loved for so long. They are still in Danny’s life, and being a couple hundred miles away doesn’t change that fact.

PC: We’ve already seen a little bit of Sean and Jonah’s partnership and relationship, but what can fans expect from that dynamic, and how they’re both navigating being part of such prominent families, but in different ways?

Sonnier: I think it’s really exciting. I think their relationship really injects youthful energy into the show. It really gives a new look into policing from the ground level in Boston with these two guys who feel like they know a lot because they are from these dynastic families. It’s because they’ve sat around those tables for so many years, but knowing it and doing it are two different things. So we get to watch these guys with a lot of knowledge learn that in the moment, it might not be like it played or when you were talking around the table.

They get into, as we like to say, shenanigans, often because they are young and because they are patrol cops, we do get to tell a lot of fun stories with them that bring a level of action that were produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. And then there is an expectation for a heightened level of action in these shows. And we really do get to find it with these two handsome, athletic young men.

PC: Boston Blue mainly films in Canada, but you have been filming a little bit in Boston, including at a Red Sox game. What is it like actually filming in the city as opposed to filming in Toronto, especially with Donnie being from Boston?

Margolis: Getting to film at Fenway during a Red Sox game with Donnie there was probably the highlight of our careers, and I don’t know that we’ll be able to top that because people were so excited to see him everywhere. And he was such a good sport, being Danny Reagan from New York, we put up the Mets jersey. So he was wearing a different team’s colors at the game. But literally between every take, people were like, “Donnie, Donnie over here.” And he’s like, “I’ll be right over. I’ll be right over.”

And he was taking pictures with people and hugging people in between takes, and it was just such a cool environment to be in. But the City of Boston is truly a character on the show, and it’s something we really do. Although we do film primarily in Toronto, we are getting to Boston as often as we can to grab those iconic shots and go to those iconic locations to make the city feel alive and to be a love letter to Boston as much as possible.

PC: Is there anything else you can tease for the series or anything that you’re really excited for fans to see?

Margolis: That’s a good question. I think I’m super excited for audiences to get to see and know the Silver family the way they’ve come to see the Reagan family over the years. But I will also say the Reagan family will continue to exist in our show. There will be opportunities for more family members to come visit, and we look forward to surprising audiences with the ways that Boston Blue gets to do that.

New episodes of Boston Blue air on Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS, streaming the next day on Paramount+.