New City, New Stories, Same Core Values: Donnie Wahlberg and Sonequa Martin-Green Set Up BOSTON BLUE

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede   As the new series BOSTON BLUE begins, and various iconic Boston landmarks are shown, an appropriate sing-along song blares: “The Boys Are Back” by Dropkick Murphys. If the lyrics are to be believed, “the boys are back, and they’re lookin’ for trouble.” Well, Danny Reagan, played by Donnie Wahlberg, is definitely back, and while it’s uncertain if Danny ever actually looks for trouble, he regularly has a way of finding it. Premiering Friday, Oct. 17 at 10 p.m. ET on CTV, CTV.ca and the CTV app, and streaming next day on Crave, BOSTON BLUE is a spinoff of the enduringly popular BLUE BLOODS, which occupied the same time slot on Friday nights on CTV for 14 seasons. “We are incredibly excited about this show, and cannot wait to share it with the world,” Wahlberg said in a media conference. “We look forward to bringing faith, family, and tradition back to television on Friday nights at 10 p.m.” Wahlberg is reprising his role as Danny Reagan from BLUE BLOODS, which was a family police drama set in New York. The twist in BOSTON BLUE is that Danny is presented with a compelling family reason to relocate to Beantown, even though he’s leaving behind the comfort of his widespread law-enforcement clan in the Big Apple. The irony for Wahlberg personally is that he is famously from Boston, but he spent a decade and a half shooting BLUE BLOODS in New York. “I was very comfortable in New York, I will say that – as a Bostonian, that’s not an easy thing to say,” Wahlberg said with a chuckle. “Acting in the streets of New York, it became just a joy of mine every day on BLUE BLOODS. I can’t tell you how much fun I had, no matter what neighbourhood, no matter what borough, I always had a great time. But you know, there is a fish-out-of-water element to this show, and for Danny, he is in a new place, he’s used to doing things a certain way, and now he has people who push back on him, and say, ‘yeah, you can’t do that,’ Generally he kind of gets his way, but now it’s different. So I’ve indulged the differences.” Wahlberg added, “in terms of working in Boston, we’re filming in Toronto and Boston, and I can tell you, they’re both a joy. But they’re both taking some getting used to. I have never shot a series in Boston like this. I’ve never had to navigate all my relatives showing up, and people showing up … ” Wahlberg then fell back into the hardcore Boston accent of his youth, and yelled, “Donnie, take a picture with me! Donnie, who’s your paaartnaaa?’ ” The “partner” in question is Detective Lena Silver, played by Sonequa Martin-Green (STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, THE WALKING DEAD). Lena is part of a prominent Boston law-enforcement family that rivals the Reagans in terms of sheer numbers. “I was very familiar with the M5 when I was shooting walkers (on THE WALKING DEAD), and (on STAR TREK: DISCOVERY) my gun was a phaser, and it could be on stun or kill, but I have never dealt with a Glock,” said Martin-Green, referring to the weaponry in BOSTON BLUE. “I have definitely had to get accustomed to being on the ground, pun intended, and be this sort of real person. Not like Captain Michael Burnham (Martin-Green’s character on STAR TREK: DISCOVERY) is not a real person, in a sense, but it is different. Like Donnie was just saying, I’ve been embracing the differences, not having to have such a rigid spine, if you will, and not having to save the actual universe all the time.” One refreshing element of the relationship between Danny Reagan and Lena Silver is that while they obviously have differences – which are played up for comic effect – they don’t fall into the cop-show cliché of constant bickering. It doesn’t take Danny and Lena long to recognize each other’s value, as both people and professionals. “That’s one of the things that sparked us both, me and Donnie, something that we both saw in the story, that there is this kindredness between the two,” Martin-Green agreed. “They’re from two very different places, but they’re both from these law-enforcement families, and they both understand faith and family and tradition, they share in that. They sort of see themselves in each other. They understand each other. We thought that was so special, and something that we haven’t really seen a lot in (police) partnerships, especially in budding partnerships in the beginning. We thought, what a lovely thing to have these people immediately connect, to have them immediately trust each other, and immediately respect each other.” In terms of overall respect, Wahlberg has high goals for BOSTON BLUE. “I can tell you, from 14 years on BLUE BLOODS, I’ve met thousands of law-enforcement families, or people from law-enforcement families, who’ve said how much that show meant to them, and how much it means to see families like theirs represented on TV,” he said. “There are thousands of unique families all around our country, but having the chance to continue telling the story of a new law-enforcement family, it’s a tremendous honour, and hopefully BOSTON BLUE lands with all of those law-enforcement families the same way BLUE BLOODS did.”   billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv