Tom Selleck is speaking out about the cancellation of Blue Bloods, revealing that the cast and production team agreed to a 25 percent salary reduction in a final effort to keep the CBS police drama on air. Despite the financial sacrifice, the network still ended the series after 14 seasons.
The 81-year-old actor opened up about the situation during a recent episode of Ted Danson’s podcast, Where Everybody Knows Your Name. Selleck, who played New York City Police Commissioner Frank Reagan, said the entire cast was ready to return for more episodes and took significant pay cuts to make it happen.
Cast Accepted Major Salary Reduction to Extend the Show
Selleck explained that the cast’s dedication to the show went beyond just showing up for work. When CBS was considering the show’s future, the actors and production team agreed to lower their salaries to reduce the budget for what would become the final season.
“The real truth to that is in the last year of [Blue Bloods], at our last family dinner, everybody wanted to come back. We’d already taken a 25 percent cut in salary,” Selleck told Danson.
He added that the cast had already done “all sorts of things to keep the show going”.
The pay cut helped secure a Season 14 renewal in March 2023. However, CBS announced the show’s cancellation later that year, in November 2023. The final season was split into two parts, which aired in February and October 2024.
Selleck Calls Cancellation Very Frustrating
Selleck did not hide his disappointment over the network’s decision. He pointed out that Blue Bloods was still performing well in the ratings when it was cancelled.
“It was very frustrating because… out of the top 100 shows on broadcast television, Blue Bloods was number six in our fifteenth year,” Selleck said.
He emphasized that the cast was not looking to move on. “Nobody wanted to leave. Everybody was gonna stay on. That’s hard to get. It may be some kind of record to have the same cast intact for that length of time,” he noted.
The actor, who previously starred in Magnum, P.I. and Las Vegas, acknowledged how rare it is for a television cast to remain together for so long without behind-the-scenes problems.
“Maybe people don’t realize, but a lot of shows become miserable to work on. You get a lot of egos and ‘I’m not coming out of my dressing room until he’s coming out’… and it’s miserable. Blue Bloods was never that,” Selleck said.
Cast Bonded Like Real Family
Selleck described Blue Bloods as a “labor of love” for everyone involved. The show, which premiered in September 2010, featured an ensemble cast including Donnie Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan, Len Cariou, and Will Estes as a multi-generational family of New York City police officers and lawyers.
The cast’s close relationship off-screen mirrored their on-screen family dynamic. Selleck said the actors truly felt like family, which is why they were willing to make financial sacrifices to continue working together.
Before the pay cut, Selleck reportedly earned around $200,000 per episode, bringing his seasonal earnings to roughly $4.4 million. This dropped to $150,000 per episode for the final season.
Spin-Off Continues the Franchise
Although Blue Bloods ended in 2024, the franchise continued with a spin-off series called Boston Blue on CBS. The new show follows Donnie Wahlberg reprising his role as Detective Danny Reagan, now heading a police unit in Boston.
Boston Blue premiered in October and has already been renewed for a second season.
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What Selleck Said About the Show’s Ending
In a 2024 interview with TV Insider, Selleck made it clear he was not ready to say goodbye to his character.
“During those last eight shows, I haven’t wanted to talk about an ending for Blue Bloods but about it still being wildly successful,” he said at the time.
He also expressed frustration that the show’s consistent performance was overlooked. “My frustration is the show was always taken for granted because it performed from the get-go,” Selleck said.
“I’m not going to turn into a bitter old guy saying, ‘Get off my lawn!’ I don’t believe in holding grudges,” he added.
But he admitted that moving on would take time. “I remember after the weekend [of the final episode’s shoot], I said, ‘I’ve got to get to bed early tonight because I have to do my dialogue for Monday.’ Well, there was no Monday. It’s just going to take a while,” Selleck recalled.
The series finale aired in December 2024, bringing the Reagan family’s story to a close after 293 episodes.
Also Read: Hulu’s Betrayal: Dirty Secrets Docuseries Exposes Former Police Officer’s Secret Double Life
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