Boston Blue‘s Mika Amonsen addressed getting the chance to play Donnie Wahlberg‘s onscreen Sean — a role that was recast after Andrew Terraciano originated the character on Blue Bloods.
“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,” Amonsen exclusively told Us Weekly. “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 wanted to pay tribute to Terraciano’s take on the character, adding, “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.”
Blue Bloods fans met the Reagan family when the show premiered on CBS in 2010. Wahlberg’s fan-favorite character Danny was previously married to Linda Rose Reagan (Amy Carlson), with whom he shared sons Jack and Sean, before her death. The role of Danny’s youngest son was played by Terraciano for the entirety of the show’s 14 seasons before Amonsen was announced as the new face for Sean in Boston Blue.
“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,” Amonsen recalled. “I really wanted to get a sense of his character at that point into adulthood and his relationship with Danny.”
Amonsen wanted to find ways to celebrate Terraciano’s performance.
“I wanted to respect Andrew’s portrayal of Sean as much as I could — but also adding something to my own version. The show runners Brandon Sonnier and Brandon Margolis have been really good at giving me a lot of freedom to explore that new dynamic with Donnie,” he continued. Watching Andrew’s performance, I actually noticed a lot of similarities just between us as people, and our energy. It’s quite upbeat. I have a lot more of an upbeat energy myself. So that was a bit comforting. I definitely kept that within myself and didn’t feel like I was obligated to change that part of me — which was nice — in terms of making it my own.”
Before filming season 1, Amonsen was glad he had content to reference.
“We’re really just exploring what would have been. Of course, it is my own version of it but at the same time we haven’t seen this relationship with Sean and his dad before. He’s coming into this whole new position because from what I understand, the exploration of Sean being a cop wasn’t something that was on the table,” he revealed. “Now he’s a cop in his dad’s field and they’re bumping into these issues both as father and son but also as coworkers.”
Amonsen continued: “At the beginning, we get a bit of stepping on toes and Sean exploring his new boundaries as a man and as a police officer. That dynamic changes and that was something that I got to bring into that role — that exploration of him as an adult as he is navigating this new job and this new relationship with his dad.”
The actor was thrilled to join a spinoff of a show with such a strong franchise. There have been some growing pains though as viewers adjust to someone new playing the role of Wahlberg’s onscreen son.
“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,” Amonsen explained. “They’re really enjoying the show and they love where it’s going in terms of Sean and that makes me happy.”
Boston Blue airs on CBS Fridays at 10 p.m. ET.
