Entertainment
Blue Bloods’ Len Cariou, 85, Is ‘Not Ready to Retire’ After Season 14: ‘Age Is Just a Number’
Blue Bloods is ending after 14 seasons but the show’s stars, including Len Cariou, aren’t waving goodbye to acting for good.
“He’s not ready to retire. He’s 85 years young,” Abigail Hawk said of her costar during an interview with Us Weekly last month. “One of the coolest things about our show, aside from like the family dinners and aside from [the fact that] obviously these people are beloved, is that we show that age is really just a number.”
Len, 85, has portrayed Henry Reagan since season 1 of the show in 2010. And before that, he had quite the stage career, earning multiple Tony Award nominations and critical acclaim.
Abigail, 42, told the outlet that several of her costars were upset that Blue Bloods was canceled by CBS.
“None of us wanted the show to end. Every single one of us, regardless of whatever rumors were flying around, was very ready, willing, and able to continue working,” she said. “Most especially Tom [Selleck] and Len.”
Though Len is only six years older than Tom, 79, in real life, he portrayed Tom’s character Frank Reagan’s father on the show. And many fans would have to agree that Henry has been the heart of the show in many ways, whether it’s bringing laughter, great advice or comfort.
“We all get along terribly well,” Len said of his Blue Bloods costars during an April interview with Observer. “And that doesn’t happen every time out.”
He established a great friendship with Tom, who he has shared many scenes with over the years.
“Tom has been doing this all his life, and he’s a master at it,” Len said. “It’s a real pleasure to be with him.”
For Len, saying goodbye to a character that has meant so much to him has been “tough.”
“It was pretty emotional. It wasn’t the last thing we did, but it was nice in one sense to be in the room together, but it was a tough day for us,” he told TV Insider of filming the last family dinner in an interview published on November 1. “And not everybody, of course, on the show is there when we’re filming that. So there’s that fragment of it.”
“But the interesting thing about that was that the very first scene that we filmed when we made the pilot was the dinner scene,” he added. “The first thing we put on film was that scene back in Episode 101. So that was pretty interesting. We talked a bit about that because there were a couple of cast changes when the show finally launched. So it was pretty emotional.”
Like Len, Tom has also expressed a desire to continue working well after Blue Bloods is off the air. The Magnum, P.I. alum hinted that he wanted to make another Jesse Stone movie.
“It looks like now I might have to write [a script for another movie.]” Tom told TV Insider on October 3. “It wouldn’t be a final one because everybody loves it. Jesse is a great character, and it would be fascinating to find out where he is quite a few years later. But I need to regroup; I don’t know what’s next, but assuming the phone doesn’t stop ringing, I’m going to keep working.”
