‘Blue Bloods’ Showrunner Speaks Out After Jam-Packed 1-Hour Series Finale: ‘Kind of the Greatest Hits’

For those who tuned in to the Blue Bloods series finale, the action began almost immediately in the first few seconds of the episode. Some fans felt like there was too much shoved into the hour-long farewell to the police drama series.

“How did this show not get a 2 hour finale? It’s been your standard bearer for 14 years. Talk about a dirty deal. #bluebloods @CBS shame on you,” one person wrote on X after the series finale aired on December 13.

The episode started with the death of Luis Badillo and the shooting of Mayor Peter Chase. Frank stepped in for the mayor as he recovered from his injuries, trying to track down gang leader Ramirez. Erin and Jack decided they were going to get married again, while Eddie and Jamie announced they were expecting their first child together after catching Badillo’s killer. And by the end of it, the Reagan crew sat at the dinner table one final time together.

Vanessa Ray Shares Emotional Message Ahead of 'Blue Bloods' Series Finale

“I have to say I wasn’t impressed with this #BlueBloods series finale. 1 hour long episode wasn’t enough, should have been allocated a two hour time slot. One thing I noticed was how Eddie was in rage over Badillo’s death…” another person wrote. “However in the premiere of the previous season in 13 when her husband was shot and almost paralyzed the writers failed to show Eddie in rage to man who shot her husband.”

“This really should have been a commercial free hour! But I guess they are at least giving us a moment to catch our breath and wipe away our tears. #BlueBloodsFinale #BlueBloods,” another person said.

Showrunner Kevin Wade spoke out about how he wanted to conclude as many story lines for the characters as possible in the final hour-long episode.

“Look, if you’re running for 14 years and almost 300 episodes, you have, by osmosis, an idea of what feels like it works in the editing room and feels like it works on Friday night at 10,” he said in a December 13 interview with Deadline.

“So, it’s kind of the Greatest Hits without being silly about it, of what we do, of the kind of stories that we do for Frank, for Jamie, Danny, [Erin],” he said. “The combining factor is the ones that we felt worked best and biggest as finales, had all of them pointed at the same case, dilemma, peril, jeopardy, whatever it was. We had talked about it a lot, especially Siobhan and I, and that’s what we came up with.”

Kevin said that he “never planned out an ending” for Blue Bloods. But when he found out the show was canceled by CBS, he drew inspiration from other great series and how they ended.

“We looked at what we felt were successful series finales for long-running shows, comedies and dramas, and it seemed to me that the thing that they pretty much had in common was not beating you over the head with this is the last one,” he shared with the outlet.

“What they did was they gave you a really good episode, obviously, with a tip of the hat from the start,” Kevin said. “Then, for, let’s say, the last five minutes of the show, wrapping it up with that sense of anything we do from here on is going to be in your imagination. Anything you see in the last five minutes; we’re inviting you to imagine the show after the show is no longer on.”