On a cold, rainy January day at his 65-acre ranch about 40 miles west of Los Angeles, the TV icon, 79, won’t discuss departures or emotional endings, even after CBS announced in November that “Blue Bloods” was ending its run after its 14th season.
Selleck, an executive producer who stars as police commissioner Frank Reagan, the procedural’s patriarch, wants to continue the business of making TV episodes that have made “Blue Bloods” a Friday-night staple for its loyal older fan base. And if these fans speak out to improbably change CBS executives’ minds after “Blue Bloods” kicks off Season 14 on Friday (10 EST/PST), so be it.
“I see a lot of very upset people out there. We’ll see what happens,” Selleck says of the looming exit after a split season that resumes in the fall for eight final episodes. Even if “Blue Bloods” ends, it won’t be drawn out. “Whatever happens, it’s not going to be a whole season of endless soap operas winding down.”
Retirement, whether Reagan’s or his own, is the furthest thing from Selleck’s mind as he pulls up to his 1910 hunting lodge retreat in a Can-Am Defender off-road vehicle. There are no handlers, just Selleck stepping in from the rain wearing unzipped fleece and a denim shirt, smiling through his famous and still robustly dark mustache. He apologizes for being late to the interview (he’s actually early) due to a weather-related delay on his short commute from the property’s big house nearby, where Selleck lives with Jillie, his wife of 36 years.
Since “Blue Bloods” premiered in September 2010, Selleck has commuted to New York City to shoot his scenes with an ensemble cast that features Donnie Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan, Len Cariou and Will Estes as a multi-generational family of NYPD cops (with Moynahan playing the one legal outlier in the district attorney’s office).
“At the time, lasting 14 seasons wasn’t even conceivable,” says Selleck.
But the family-centered drama became a steady ratings magnet: Selleck found that rare second long-running hit after “Magnum, P.I.” ended on CBS in 1988 after an eight-year run.
“We really started catching on and found our groove in ‘Blue Bloods’ somewhere in the first season,” says Selleck. “I said to myself, ‘I can’t be this lucky twice.'”
He credits the contributions of producer Leonard Goldberg, who perfected the “Blue Bloods” formula of the intertwining family storylines, all coming together at the centerpiece Sunday Reagan family meal at widower Frank’s house. (Goldberg died in 2019.)
“That meal, at the end of the episode, and Leonard’s gift of casting are probably why we are still around,” says Selleck, who relishes playing the respected figure at the head of the table. “I love the role. And he’s not done. I’m not done. And I think there’s plenty of room for the show.”
There was a very different departure journey with “Magnum, P.I.” which made Selleck a household name in the 1980s as the Detroit Tigers baseball-cap-clad private eye in Hawaii. Selleck had to be convinced to return for a seventh and then a final eighth season. The private star yearned to start a family in Los Angeles, secretly marrying his second wife, actress Jillie Mack, in 1987. (“It was like a commando mission. We were proud to keep it secret for 30 days,” he said.)
After being forced to turn down prized roles like Indiana Jones in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” due to his “Magnum” role, Selleck also had a sizzling movie career with 1987’s hit comedy “Three Men and a Baby.”
“Whenever somebody mentions that ‘Magnum’ was canceled, I’m always quick to point out that ‘Magnum’ was never canceled. (CBS) never would have done that. It was wildly successful,” says Selleck. “I wasn’t tired of it, I was tired from it because I was in every shot. Plus, I had done the No. 1 movie in the world. And so I guess it was time.”
Selleck continued to produce and starred in passion projects as the troubled New England police chief Jesse Stone in nine TV movies. He also earned “Friends” immortality with his recurring role from 1995 to 2000 as the much-older love interest to Monica (Courteney Cox).
But he admits to having occasional regrets about ending “Magnum.”
“It was the right decision,” says Selleck. “But still, it’s impossible not to have some lingering thoughts.”
“Magnum, P.I.” Start afresh with a 2018 reboot starring Jay Hernandez as Thomas Magnum with twists that included turning the character JonathanHiggins (originally played by John Hillerman) into a love interest and investigative partner Juliet Higgins (Perdita Weeks).
Selleck’s silence and his notable absence from the remake spoke volumes during the five-season run that ended in January.
“There was no way I was going to do a cameo. All they’re doing is getting the old stars to say ‘This is OK,'” says Selleck. “The show was a real dilemma. I said I wasn’t going to say anything bad about it while it’s on, but I didn’t want anything to do with it.”
Selleck compares watching the new show to the plight of his neighbor who “put his heart and soul” into building a beautiful stable house – but then declined to assist the next buyer’s total redesign of his “perfect” home.
Selleck recalls the neighbor the new owner telling, “That’s very nice. But you don’t understand: No matter what you do, I’m going to hate it. That’s how it was with me,” he says. “I didn’t like the show. It’s over now. So I can say that. The actors are on to other things, so good for them.”
What will happen in ‘Blue Bloods’ Season 14?
Longtime executive producer Kevin Wade says writers haven’t mapped out how “Blue Blood” will end in the fall.
“We’ll have to figure out how to deliver a satisfying and emotional final episode without spending three months trying to tee it up,” he says. “These characters need to move forward in their fictional jobs and grow. We have to deliver 18 good episodes.”
Selleck promises the first two are “phenomenal.” Episode 3 features a tribute to Treat Williams, who played Frank’s former partner Lenny Ross and died in a June motorcycle accident.
“It will be an unsentimental tribute to Treat Williams that’s not a maudlin hourlong show,” says Selleck.
Even if his CBS bosses are continuing with plans to wrap up the show, Selleck remains too optimistic to talk about the ending. After all, his upcoming memoir (due May 7), still unfinished, is titled “You Never Know.”
“They say it’s an eight-episode wind-down, and I say, ‘We’ll see,'” says Selleck, with a laugh. “Look, I’ll do whatever is best for the whole situation. But I love this show, obviously. And I think CBS is going to end up being very conflicted with their present plans.”
