Her simple life is Earthbound and zombie-free

Even when she’s chasing killers and saving lives, Sonequa Martin-Green can almost relax.
It’s refreshing, she said, “not having to save the actual universe all the time.”
For five seasons of “The Walking Dead,” she fought zombies; for all five seasons of “Star Trek: Discovery,” she was the main character, facing crises in new worlds. Now her new duty — as a “Boston Blue” police detective (shown here)– might feel like a breeze.
The show — debuting at 10 p.m. Friday (Oct. 17) on CBS — is a spin-off of “Blue Bloods.” For 14 seasons, Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg, left) played a tough New York cop. As that show was ending, producers hatched the new plan: He goes to Boston, where his son is a rookie cop; at times, they link.
“We’ve never told a father-son story on ‘Blue Bloods,'” Wahlberg said, in a Zoom press conference.
Or, at least, one with both working a case. In that show, Danny’s dad was the police commissioner. “He wasn’t out on the streets,” Wahlberg said. “Now Danny and Sean are there growing together and learning the city together.”
Also, they’re meeting about another tangled family tree.
In New York, the Reagans were complicated enough. They included the police commissioner; his dad, the former commissioner; a police detective; his brother, a street cop; their late brother, also a cop; and their sister, an assistant prosecuting attorney.
Now Donnie meets Lena Silver (Martin-Green), whose family is just as complicated. Her mom (Gloria Reuben) is the district attorney … her grandfather (Ernie Hudson) is a Baptist pastor … her brother Jonah (Marcus Scribner) is a rookie cop.
They’re Black, but the family dinners have a bi-racial feel. Sarah (Maggie Lawson), a high-ranking cop and the step-sister of Lena and Jonah, is white; so is Jonah’s best friend, Sean Reagan.
This is a world Danny Reagan understands. Viewers might expect the cliche of bickering cops; instead, he and Lena work well together.
“There is this kindness between these two,” Martin-Green said. “They’re from very different places, but (they) understand faith and family and tradition.”
What’s harder for Danny is to grasp are different procedures and logistics. “He doesn’t really want to drive in the streets of Boston,” Wahlberg said, “but he usually drives the car and he doesn’t know how to navigate these streets.”
Those streets, incidentally, often aren’t in Boston … or in the U.S.
“Blue Bloods” was a ratings success until the end, but got to be too expensive, with increasing salaries and the cost of shooting in New York. “Boston Blue” is mostly shot in Toronto, with a different producer
Jerry Bruckheimer — whose TV series have been sleek and efficient (“Fire Country,” “Lucifer,” all the “CSI” ones) — is in charge; Anthony Hemingway, one of TV’s best directors (including the Aretha Franklin “Genius” mini-series) did the pilot.
Wherever it’s filmed, it will feel like Boston. That’s Wahlberg’s home town and a place he loves; the guy he plays, Danny Reagan, isn’t so sure.
Maybe he’ll adapt. Things will evolve, producer Brandon Margolis joked, “until Danny slowly starts to like clam chowder and develop an accent.”