Donnie Wahlberg Says He Offered Half His Paycheck to Film “Boston Blue” Solely in Boston but CBS Said No

NEED TO KNOW

• Donnie Wahlberg said he offered to cut his Boston Blue paycheck in half to film the show in Boston

• The Blue Bloods alum made the revelation during his Thursday, April 23 appearance on Andy Cohen Live

• “They said, ‘You can give back 100% and so can the rest of the cast, we cannot film this show in Boston,'” Wahlberg recalled

Donnie Wahlberg is explaining why Boston Blue isn’t always filmed in Beantown.

During a Thursday, April 23 appearance on Andy Cohen Live, the Blue Bloods alum revealed that he offered to sacrifice half his paycheck just to film the CBS spinoff in his Boston, but the network said it wasn’t possible.

While parts of the procedural are indeed filmed in Wahlberg’s hometown, it’s largely filmed in Toronto. And for good reason, he added.

“I got offered the job, I’m like, ‘This is a dream come true,'” Wahlberg, who reprises his role of Danny Reagan in Boston Blue, said. “I thought, I’ll do a spinoff in L.A. or Vegas or Texas, somewhere hot. And they were like, ‘How about Boston?’ I was like, ‘Ahhhh.’ They hooked me.”

He added, “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.’ I said, ‘Listen, I’ll give back 50% of my paycheck if we can go to Boston.’ I did. And they said, ‘You can give back 100% and so can the rest of the cast, we cannot film this show in Boston.'”

Donnie Wahlberg as Danny Reagan in ‘Boston Blue’
Credit: Ian Watson/CBS

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Ultimately, it’s “so expensive” to set up production in Beantown, meaning Wahlberg and his costars primarily film in Canada. There was another factor at play, too, he shared.

“Honestly, Andy, we can’t film it in Boston full time because it’s nonstop,” he said of the fan reaction. “Literally, the duck boats are going by, and the tour guides have on these headsets with speakers. 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…'”

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

The real-life Bostonian also opened up about the baggage that comes with filming in his hometown during a Wednesday, April 22 episode of Live with Kelly and Mark. During the interview, Wahlberg explained why “it’s crazy” when he films in Boston. “We don’t get anything shot. Every take, I’m literally saying, ‘Give me your hand, sir, you’re under arrest,’ and it’s like, ‘Donnie! Donnie.'”

“The duck boat tours, which are very famous in Boston, they drive by and have a headset on with a speaker,” he added. “And it’s literally like, ‘Over there, you’ll see Donnie Wahlberg in the wild. He grew up three doors down from me, I knew his mother, God rest her soul.'”

From 2010 to 2024, Wahlberg played Danny Reagan on 14 seasons of Blue Bloods, which was based in New York City. In the spinoff, his character joins the Boston Police Department in an effort to be closer to his son (a fellow cop). The show also stars Sonequa Martin-Green as Detective Lena Silver, Maggie Lawson as Sarah Silver, and Ernie Hudson as Reverend Edwin Peters, among others.

Donnie Wahlberg as Danny Reagan and Mika Amonsen as Sean Reagan in ‘Boston Blue’
Credit: Ian Watson/CBS

Wahlberg previously caught up with PEOPLE at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in March, when he described having “the pleasure of calling all my castmates and telling them” the show had been renewed for a second season. Boston Blue premiered on CBS in October. “I did it, and every cast member got tears in their eyes, every single one of them, and so did I,” he said. “And when I called Jenny [McCarthy] and told her about that, we shared a nice cry.”

“Well, I’m an EP too, so I said as one of the EPs, I’d like to be the one to tell them. And everyone agreed,” Wahlberg added.

Boston Blue airs on CBS Fridays at 10 p.m. ET and streams the next day on Paramount+.

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