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Credit: Ian Watson/CBS
Boston Blue might need the town’s identify within the title, however sadly, it isn’t 100% filmed there. Instead, the Blue Bloods spinoff splits its time between Toronto and Boston. However, Donnie Wahlberg, who leads Boston Blue and is an icon of the town, didn’t need it to be that means. In truth, he was keen to surrender a part of his paycheck to movie the collection solely in Beantown. However…CBS mentioned no.
As we inch towards the Season 1 finale of Boston Blue on the 2026 TV schedule, Donnie Wahlberg went on Radio Andy to debate returning as Danny Reagan for the brand new collection. They particularly chatted about capturing in Boston (which is Wahlberg’s hometown), and the struggle the actor has put as much as attempt to movie extra of the present within the metropolis it is named after. To that time, Wahlberg mentioned:
Yeah, and so they had been like, ‘But we can’t afford to shoot it in Boston. We’re gonna shoot it in Toronto,’ and I used to be like, ‘No. No,’ so I mentioned, ‘Listen, I’ll give back 50% of my paycheck if we can go to Boston.’…I did, and so they mentioned, ‘You can give back a hundred percent, and so can the rest of the cast. We cannot film this show in Boston, but we’ll do a couple.’ It’s so costly.
Now, they’ve filmed numerous scenes in Boston and at iconic places within the metropolis (like Fenway Park). However, nearly all of the collection is shot in Toronto. While that was disappointing to Wahlberg, particularly since he was stoked in regards to the thought of Danny going to Boston instead of a place like Texas, he additionally acquired it.
That’s as a result of, together with it being costly to shoot Boston Blue in Massachusetts, it’s additionally a problem, as Wahlberg defined:
We shoot in Toronto, however truthfully Andy, we could not movie it in Boston full-time as a result of it is nonstop. It’s actually the duck boats are going by and the duck boat tour guides have on these headsets with audio system and it is actually within 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.’
The Bostonian went on to say that when this occurs, the cameras come out, and he’s “gotta run over to the duck boat and pose for pictures.” He additionally joked that in the event that they movie in Boston, his whole prolonged household will attempt to come see him.
So, it’s exhausting to be productive there, and it’s expensive. So, I can see why CBS mentioned no. It additionally looks as if Wahlberg will get it, as he defined:
We would not get any work completed. Literally. The dailies is simply, you are actually listening to vehicles honking as I’m doing my dialogue. ‘Donnie, how’s your father?’ ‘He’s in heaven.’
Thankfully, it’s not like Boston Blue completely deserted the concept of filming in Boston. It won’t be full-time, just like the Danny actor wished, however they do get to work within the metropolis now and again. Then, for the remainder of the time, they movie in Canada, which additionally has its advantages (like quieter units and places).
All round, they acquired it discovered, and nobody had to surrender half their paycheck. Now they’ll get to hone in on this course of and filming between the 2 cities extra, as a result of Boston Blue has been renewed for Season 2. However, we’ve got to complete Season 1 first, and you’ll catch these episodes (which hopefully embrace some moments that had been filmed in Boston) on CBS each Friday at 10 p.m. or with a Paramount+ subscription the following day.
