Boston Blue Star Addresses Recasting Backlash

Boston Blue actor, Mika Amonsen, opens up about the backlash he has received from dedicated fans of the flagship show, Blue Bloods, after replacing Andrew Terraciano as Danny Reagan’s (Donnie Wahlberg) son, Sean Reagan.

In an interview with Us Weekly, the actor revealed how he has faced a lot of negativity, and it has not all been smooth sailing. While he has received plenty of praise, there are just as many fans who wish that Boston Blue hadn’t replaced the original actor. “There’s been some negativity, for sure. But when I look under those posts that have the negativity, there’s a lot of fans rallying for Sean and people saying that they really enjoyed this character that I’ve created — or my version of character,” he explained.

Amonsen added that the criticism can be a little tough because he wanted to please all fans of the original show. However, despite it all, he is still very grateful to the viewers who appreciate his iteration of the character. “They’re really enjoying the show, and they love where it’s going in terms of Sean, and that makes me happy.“

He remembered feeling anxious when he first got the role. He told the publication that he wanted to respect Terraciano’s version of Sean while making the character his own. The actor even adopted the hairstyle of his predecessor. “I definitely felt a ton of pressure at first. I felt the pressure to respect an actor before me because I wanted to respect Andrew the best I could,” he said. Amonsen further elaborated, “There were even certain visual choices that I made that I wanted to keep in terms of hair styling and certain ways of being [as Sean].”

Amonsen explained how everything happened very quickly in terms of casting and filming. He said that he tried his best to watch as much of the series as possible. He revealed that watching the later seasons was crucial to learning who the character is, how he has grown throughout the original series, and how he should portray him in Boston Blue.

I really want to maintain Sean as close as I can in the ways that I do it out of respect for this character that everyone loves — but also the character Andrew built. When I booked the show, it all happened really quickly. It was within about a week’s time, and I was really thrown into it quickly. I did binge-watch as much as I could, and I found doing the later seasons was more helpful. I wanted to get a sense of who Sean was toward the end of the show. I really wanted to get a sense of his character at that point into adulthood and his relationship with Danny.

Sean was featured in all 14 seasons of Blue Bloods, which aired from 2010 to 2024. He is the son of Danny and Linda Rose Reagan (played by Amy Carlson). The couple also had another son named Jack (Tony Terraciano).

Boston Blue airs new episodes on Fridays at 10:00 PM ET and 7:00 PM PT on CBS. All episodes of Blue Bloods are available to stream on Paramount Plus.