‘Boston Blue’ Star Donnie Wahlberg Offered to Take Massive Paycut to Film Show in Boston

Donnie Wahlberg was determined to film in Boston for Boston Blue.

The Blue Bloods offshoot mainly films in Toronto, but occasionally shoots in the Massachusetts capital for exteriors.

Evidently, Wahlberg didn’t want to film in Toronto, as he wanted to film only in Boston, where the show is set and where he is from. The Emmy-nominated actor recalled on Radio Andy, “When I got offered the job, I’m like, ‘This is a dream come true.’ I thought, I’ll do a spinoff in LA or Vegas or Texas, somewhere hot. And they were like, ‘How about Boston?’ I was like, ‘Ahhhh.’ They hooked me. And I was like, ‘Alright, let’s do it in Boston.’”

“And they were like, ‘But we can’t afford to shoot it in Boston, we’re gonna shoot it in Toronto.’ I was like, ‘No, no.’ So, I said, ‘Listen, I’ll give back 50% of my paycheck if we can go to Boston.’ I did,” he continued. “And they said, ‘You can give back 100% and so can the rest of the cast, we cannot film this show in Boston.’ It’s so expensive. For the most part, we shoot in Toronto.”

On top of the cost, the New Kids on the Block member explained that Boston is “nonstop,” making production tough. “Literally, the duck boats are going by, and the tour guides have on these headsets with speakers,” Wahlberg shared. “And it’s literally in the background of a scene you hear, ‘Oh my God, there’s Donnie Wahlberg right over there on the corner. I grew up near Donnie. Everybody get your cameras out!’”

“And then I gotta run over to the duck boat and pose for pictures with everyone,” he added. “My cousins, my uncles, my aunts, my nieces, my nephews… everybody’s there, and we wouldn’t get any work done.”

Even though Boston Blue doesn’t fully film in Boston, there are still some chances to film in the city the show is named after. Co-creator and co-showrunner Brandon Margolis told PopCulture.com ahead of the series premiere in October that they do get 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.”

It’s a disappointment that Boston Blue isn’t able to film mostly in Boston, but Wahlberg’s willingness to take a pay cut just shows how important it was to him. It’s always possible a relocation will happen in the future, but for now, it seems like Toronto will have to serve as a backdrop for Boston, aside from the occasional trips to the city. New episodes of Boston Blue air on Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on CBS, streaming the next day on Paramount+.