Tom Selleck details Blue Bloods cancel after 25% pay cut
Tom Selleck says the Blue Bloods cast already took a 25 percent pay cut and still wanted another season when CBS ended the hit police drama. Speaking on Ted Danson's podcast, the Frank Reagan star called the cancellation frustrating, noting the show ranked No. 6 among top broadcast series.
Key Takeaways
- Tom Selleck says the Blue Bloods cast took a 25% pay cut before CBS canceled the series.
- He told Ted Danson's podcast the cast wanted to return after their final family dinner scene.
- Selleck claims Blue Bloods ranked No. 6 among the top 100 broadcast shows in its 15th year.
- CBS announced the cancellation in 2023; the 14th and final season wrapped in December 2024.
- A CBS Entertainment rep did not immediately comment when asked by Page Six.
What did Tom Selleck say about the Blue Bloods cancellation?
On an episode of Ted Danson's podcast Where Everybody Knows Your Name, Selleck revisited why ending Blue Bloods still stings. The 81-year-old actor, who played New York City Police Commissioner Frank Reagan, called the long-running CBS drama a "labor of love."
According to Page Six, he framed the network's decision as especially hard because the ensemble had already made financial sacrifices to stay on air.
Why did the Blue Bloods cast take a 25 percent pay cut?
Selleck said the cast agreed to the cut because they wanted the show to continue. "The real truth to that is in the last year of [the series], at our last family dinner, everybody wanted to come back. We'd already taken a 25% cut in salary," he explained.
He added that they had "done all sorts of things to keep the show going." Female First reported the same account: nobody wanted to walk away from the Reagan family drama.
"Nobody wanted to leave. Everybody was gonna stay on," Selleck said. "That's hard to get. It may be some kind of record to have the same cast intact for that length of time." Co-stars included Donnie Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan and Will Estes.
Was Blue Bloods still a ratings hit when CBS canceled it?
Selleck argued the numbers made the axing all the more puzzling. "Out of the top 100 shows on broadcast television, Blue Bloods was number six in our fifteenth year," he claimed on the podcast.
CBS announced the cancellation in 2023, and the series' 14th and final season concluded in December 2024. The show had aired since September 2010. Selleck previously told TV Insider in October 2024 he was "kind of frustrated," saying the drama was "wildly successful" and "always taken for granted."
He also told Danson that unlike many long-running sets, Blue Bloods never became "miserable to work on" amid ego clashes. A rep for CBS Entertainment did not immediately respond to Page Six's request for comment.