I’m a guy who sees the glass as half full. When it comes to the future of CBS’ Blue Bloods, Donnie Wahlberg is optimistic.
The long-running police procedural was renewed for season 14 on March 29, though The Hollywood Reporter reports that the cast and producers agreed to take a “25 percent pay cut” in order to keep the show on the air for another season. Wahlberg, 53, is optimistic that the show will continue past season 14.
“I’m an optimist,” the New Kids on the Block singer told Us Weekly exclusively while promoting season 5 of ID’s Very Scary People, which premieres on Sunday, April 16. “I try to approach each episode as it comes. I truly believe it. I think it’s one of the reasons I’ve had so much fun on the show for the past 13 years.”
Wahlberg, who has two sons with ex-wife Kimberly Fey, Xavier (30) and Elijah (21), plays Detective Danny Reagan on the CBS series, which premiered in September 2012. The show follows the lives of the Reagan family, many of whom work for the NYPD under his father, New York City Police Commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck). Bridget Moynahan and Will Estes play Danny’s siblings Erin and Jamie, respectively, and Len Cariou plays the family patriarch Henry.
In terms of Blue Bloods’ longevity, the actor — who is also stepfather to his wife Jenny McCarthy’s son Evan, 20, whom she shares with ex-husband John Asher — hopes to replicate the success of another popular TV show. “Law and Order: SVU, I mean, Ice-T and Mariska Hargitay have been going for gosh, so many years, and we hope to last as long as they have,” Wahlberg said, adding that working on a series for several years can be “hard” for some actors “to keep doing.”
“One of the things I’ve done is just try to stay very present in each episode and take each script that comes my way and say, ‘OK, what’s gonna happen now?'” he continued. ‘Do you know what I’m up to this week?’ And kind of find the journey in that particular episode rather than getting caught up in what’s going to happen next year or in two years.”
The Zookeeper star, who married McCarthy, 50, in 2014, isn’t opposed to a Blue Bloods spinoff, and he already has a story in mind for his and his onscreen sister Moynahan’s characters. “Danny and Erin become private investigators and move to Hawaii, but that was too close to Magnum, P.I., so we didn’t want to do that one,” he joked, referencing Selleck’s iconic 1980s series.
While no spinoffs are currently in the works, Wahlberg’s new season of Very Scary People will continue to explore the lives of some of history’s most heinous cr1minals. While the new episodes will explore the stories of the Trailside K1ller, the Times Square K1ller, and others, the Rizzoli & Isles alum told Us that he prefers to play characters who catch the bad guys rather than playing one himself.
“I’m not sure I’d want to play a serial k1ller,” he admitted. “I watched some of the Jeffrey Dahmer series, and the performances were fantastic, but it’s very dark and heavy stuff.” As a result, I’m not sure I’d want to play it, especially after having come so close with Very Scary People. I believe the performance would have to have some kind of personal connection or meaning for me. Otherwise, I’m not sure it’s something I’d want to do.”
Unplugging from Very Scary People’s heavy subject matter is something Wahlberg says is important for him to do, though he still gets as scared as the audience. “I was watching the show with Jenny, my wife, before and I was like, ‘Oh, this is tough,'” the In Plain Sight alum explained. “And she said, ‘But it’s important because it helps me.'” It actually makes me think, OK, I should look into this. OK, I should double-check that I lock the door here and do all of these other things.’… So, in some ways, it’s been very beneficial and useful.”
McCarthy’s “interesting and helpful” take on the show helped him further distance himself from it, noting, “She gave me a different way to kind of look at it.”
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