“Blue Bloods” spin-off series “Boston Blue” has its own version of the iconic weekly Reagan family dinners, but their take on the beloved concept is actually inspired by true events.
Donnie Wahlberg’s Danny Reagan takes center stage in the new series, which sees him partner up with Detective Lena Silver (Sonequa Martin-Green), a member of a similarly generational Boston law enforcement family. Their weekly dinner is a Shabbat meal on Friday night instead of the Christian traditionalist-inspired Sunday meal the Reagans share. The choice to incorporate the Jewish tradition was inspired by co-showrunner Brandon Sonnier’s life as a Black man in a practicing Jewish family.
“This is the world that we live in,” Sonnier, who converted to Judaism after being raised Catholic, told Emmy Magazine. “We didn’t set out to artificially imbue any sort of integration into that world. I loved ‘Blue Bloods,’ I watched ‘Blue Bloods,’ but I also sit around a table with my white Jewish wife. I have children who are of mixed race, who are being raised Jewish.”
In “Boston Blue,” Lena is a Black woman who fully converts to Judaism to honor her late stepfather’s religious beliefs. Her mother, Mae (Gloria Reuben), previously converted while she was married, while her grandfather, Edwin (Ernie Hudson), has stuck with their original religion as a Baptist minister.
Focusing on a multi-racial family made Boston Blue more real
The focus on a multi-racial, multi-faith family was key for co-showrunner Brandon Sonnier — who also writes for the spin-off — to show fundamental differences in these new characters. Sonnier wanted to honor the “Blue Bloods” legacy in a way that didn’t feel like pointless fan service.
Sonnier was dedicated to finding a way to incorporate family dinners into the new series — but with his own personal touch. “It’s one of the things that drew us to the show to start with,” he explained to Emmy Magazine, while also telling Massachusetts Film Office, “What if the people around that table weren’t all the same religion and all the same race but had different lived experiences and different points of view on all of the same subjects that we’ve been discussing for years on ‘Blue Bloods,’ on justice, on morality, on duty, on service. What does that look like when you bring all of those perspectives to the table? That’s really where it started.”
Making the Silver family Jewish and Black in “Boston Blue” is the natural progression from the white Catholicism of the central characters in “Blue Bloods.” Seeing those characters at the dinner table represents the diversity of American families just as much the Reagans did.
