Did Boston Blue Kill Off [Spoiler]? Is Baez Beantown-Bound In Season 2? EPs Weigh In On Finale Twists (And Blue Bloods Cameos)

CBS' "Boston Blue" ended its freshman run with a jolting car-crash cliffhanger.

Det. Lena Silver (Sonequa Martin-Green) had just survived being shot, and her boyfriend, Det. Brian Rodgers (Ryan Broussard) — who had agreed to turn down his dream job at the DEA to remain in Boston and be with her — had just climbed back into his car after picking up flowers from her favorite flower shop. That's when another vehicle barreled through the intersection and slammed directly into the driver's side door, sending Brian's car careening into the harbor below.

But this wasn't your standard TV T-bone: The mystery driver struck Rodgers with intent, then fled the scene.

While Brian's fate technically remains up in the air — more on that in a moment — it wasn't all bad news heading into Season 2. During a mandatory patrol shift in uniform, Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) was convinced by his son Sean (Mika Amonsen) that maybe, just maybe, it was time for a promotion. Once reunited with Baez (Marisa Ramirez) — who drove to Boston after learning that Danny's partner had been caught in the line of fire — Danny pledged to take the sergeant's exam. With the pay bump, he'd be able to afford a bigger home, paving the way for Baez, her daughter Elena, and her Alzheimer's-stricken mother to relocate to Boston and join him as one big happy family. Elsewhere, Sarah (Maggie Lawson) convinced Seth's ex to let Phoebe come live with them, while Jonah (Marcus Scribner) — with an assist from Rev. Peters (Ernie Hudson) — appeared to set his sights on a new goal within the BPD.

And then there's Silver family matriarch Mae (Gloria Reuben), who, as confirmed this week, is officially in a relationship with Judge Elijah Robinson (Harry Lennix). Alas, her reelection campaign for district attorney is just getting started, and her chief opponent, Thad Longfellow (great name alert!), already seems hellbent on playing dirty.

"Blue Bloods" fans also received a treat this week in the form of franchise vet Will Hochman, who reprised his role as Danny's nephew Joe Hill and joined the Reagans and Silvers for Shabbat dinner. Sean had invited his cousin to Boston to speak with Lena, who had agreed to let estranged father Chris (Erik King) and half-sister Christina (Alisha Wainwright) back into her life. By episode's end, they had all gathered around the table and were awaiting Brian's arrival, unaware that the detective may no longer have a pulse.

TVLine spoke with co-creators/showrunners Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier about that shocking final twist, whether Danny and Baez are finally headed toward something permanent, and the biggest challenges awaiting the Reagans and Silvers in Season 2.

TVLINE | Let's start with the question everyone is going to be rushing to TVLine to have answered when the finale ends... and the question I'm almost positive you're not going to answer: Did we just watch Brian die?
SONNIER | How did you know that we weren't going to answer that? What could have tipped you off? [Laughs] It's a cliffhanger, man! We don't want to spoil hanging off of the cliff now, do we? 

TVLINE | Well then, allow me to rephrase: At this point, do you know whether Brian lives or dies? Or is that something you'll figure out when the Season 2 writers' room convenes?
SONNIER | Oh, we definitely know. We definitely know.
MARGOLIS | There is an answer...
SONNIER | ... and it does push things forward. This event does change things dramatically for Lena and the rest of the family, and does push us forward into next season.
MARGOLIS | And for the record, our writers room for Season 2 is already open. We went right into it. So we've been in there, discussing the fallout.
SONNER | Oh, yeah! We know what happens.

TVLINE | Over the course of Season 1, you've drawn a lot of parallels between the Reagans and Silvers. Take, for instance, Joe Hill, formerly unknown nephew of Danny and cousin of Sean, arriving at Shabbat just as Lena reconnects with her estranged father and half-sister. Now, if Lena were to lose Brian, is that the kind of emotional parallel between Lena and Danny that you'd be interested in exploring creatively, given Danny's own experience losing Linda?
SONNIER | That question is a minefield! [Laughs] What we will say is that Joe Hill was a great emotional parallel to Lena and discovering new family — and the kinds of stories that can open up when you introduce someone estranged that has a familial connection into the family that we've built over the season. And so we thought, "What a great way to embrace the show that came before us while looking forward to new developments that may be happening. Introducing Joe would be the perfect bridge for those two things."

TVLINE | OK, I've poked and prodded you as much as I can about that cliffhanger, so let's move on to Danny and Baez! When we last saw Maria in Episode 15, I had a sneaking suspicion you were careful not to frame their long-distance impasse as an outright breakup. Was that an accurate read?
MARGOLIS | Correct. Yes, that was our intention. We love the Danny and Baez relationship so much that to outright cut it off like that would have broken our hearts. We absolutely wanted to explore the reality of a long-distance relationship, and what happens when your emotional needs are pulled away from your partner — whether it's a family that's aging, or the demands of having children, or whatever it is — and the real pressure that can put on a couple that's trying to find a way to make it work. But that was the key — that they're still trying to find a way. We showed how committed Danny had been throughout the season, and how committed he always remains to Baez, and we wanted to give her the opportunity to pay that back. So at the end of season, recommitting to finding a way to make this work is how we wanted to leave the two of them at season's end.

TVLINE | Danny reveals his intention to take the sergeant's exam — not only because he's overdue for a promotion, but because the pay bump would allow him to get a bigger place, so Baez, her daughter Elena, and her mother can move to Boston and live with him. So let me ask the obvious question first: Are there talks underway about Marisa Ramirez joining Season 2 as a series regular?
SONNIER | All we can say is that you will certainly see her next year. They will make good on their promise of committing to her coming to Boston. Danny's going to be looking for that bigger place, and I think that's all we can say there.

TVLINE | Whichever way it goes, it doesn't exactly seem like these two are on the verge of breaking up anytime soon... right? Fans shouldn't panic?
SONNIER | Take a breath! Everyone can take a breath about these two long term.

TVLINE | Enjoy your summer, go to the beach...
SONNIER | As you saw at the end, he puts his arm around her and says, "We've taken it slow enough."
MARGOLIS | Spare some of that anxiety for Brian! [Laughs]

TVLINE | What does the timeline for Danny's promotion and Baez's move realistically look like? I mean, I imagine it may be a while before he's actually able to take the sergeant's exam, right?
MARGOLIS | They are done on a cycle, so it is an issue that we'll get into in the premiere of next season. So yes, we will be following up on that thread.

TVLINE | How would a promotion to sergeant shake up the current work dynamic, if at all? Would Sgt. Reagan still be partnered with Det. Silver?
SONNIER | Believe us, because we've had to do the research! Yes, there's a mechanism by which they can still ride together, and Danny can accept a promotion to sergeant — which, for us and our storytelling, does create lots of interesting avenues. Lena, when we met her, was looking for a promotion, and now here's Danny, looking for a promotion. What does it mean between the two of them? How does it affect their relationship? Spoiler alert: They're the best partners in all of the Boston police department, and we're not looking to shake that up.
MARGOLIS | But it also does offer new storytelling potential as far as "What does Danny Reagan look like as a boss?," something that he never really got a chance to do. He did things his way for 14 seasons — but now, as a potential boss to others, what does that look like? We're always looking for little tweaks to his world that can open new lanes of storytelling for us on "Boston Blue."

TVLINE | You've put Det. Silver through quite the emotional wringer these last few episodes. Beyond the question surrounding Brian's fate, what does the start of Season 2 look like for Lena? Will she be on desk duty as she continues to recover? Or will you jump ahead in time to avoid that phase of her recovery?
SONNIER | We can tell you that there is a small time jump that gets us back into a mode of our partners being out on cases. That” the heart of our show — that Danny and Lena relationship, and how the rest of the family circles and cycles around that — so we do take a small time jump that allows us to get her back in the field, but also allows us to do a little due diligence into what happened in the cliffhanger [so] we can push that story forward. [There's] the mystery of the gray truck that [T-boned] Rodgers, and we get to see Danny and Lena back in action right at the start.

TVLINE | Sarah and Seth are engaged, and the finale ends on a happy note: Seth's ex has agreed to let Phoebe stay in Boston and live with him and Sarah. Are you already thinking about a wedding in Season 2? I mean, you guys have got a pretty great reverend on hand to officiate if needed.
MARGOLIS | You know, we love a good wedding story and we love the Silver family growing larger, so that's absolutely a story thread we're going to continue. We love Sarah and Phoebe's relationship, and seeing Sarah step into the role of stepmother a little bit more. And we love Mike Vogel as Seth, and it's a lot of fun having him around and mixing it up with the family, so we're just going to keep riding that train. 

TVLINE | District Attorney Mae Silver is up for reelection. Which is going to prove a bigger complication for her campaign: Her relationship with Judge Elijah Robinson, or her smarmy opponent with the best villain name currently on broadcast television, Thad Longfellow?
MARGOLIS | [Laughs] The answer is both! It's going to be a wild ride for Mae. We introduced Thad and fell in love with the actor immediately. And he has, in the best possible, professional way, the most punchable face, and we loved the energy he brought. He's such a nice man, and I would never punch him, but he plays such a great foil for Mae that we just can't wait to get into a campaign and see where all that goes. And there's plenty of dirt that's going to be unveiled.

TVLINE | Did you guys have a list of villain names? Because that one, I mean... I rewound the episode, wondering, "Did they say Chad?" But no, it's Thad. Thad is better! 
SONNIER | Isn't that better? [Laughs] That came from one of our writers. He said the name. We were like, "Yeah, that's it."
MARGOLIS | "Exactly that! That's the name!"

TVLINE | It's kind of like the reverse mullet of names: Party in the front, business in the back! But switching gears... Jonah, at one point in the finale, seems to express some doubt that as a patrol officer, he's making much of a difference in people's lives. It almost sounds like — and tell me if I'm reading too much into that dialogue between him and Rev. Peters — that he might prefer to be in a role that involves a bit more community outreach. Should we read anything into that, particularly as it relates to his partnership with Sean heading into Season 2?
SONNIER | I think what you can read into that is that Jonah, and our show, would like to explore all kinds of policing. So it's not necessarily about leaving policing. The fact that that might be where your head goes is one of the things we would like to address. Through Jonah, we get to take a look at a police officer who has internal dialogue of, "Are we doing the best for the community at large, and not just taking on bad guys?" Being a policeman can be more than just addressing the bad elements of our community. The question of, "Is there more that can be done there?" launches into a great Season 2 arc for him. 

TVLINE | And I imagine, if Lena and Danny are out chasing the bad guys, this opens the show up to a different kind of B-story.
SONNIER | Right. We get to look at different forms of policing. It doesn't have to mean less exciting, it just gives us another angle that we can take and really explore, through these characters, the character of policing itself.

TVLINE | We saw Baez quite a bit... Erin, Henry, and Joe were peppered throughout the season.... Which "Blue Bloods" characters that we haven't seen yet are at the top of your wish list for Season 2? Maybe there's already someone you've wanted to bring in, but the scheduling just hasn't worked out yet...? 
MARGOLIS | I can just say, greedily, that we want them all. They're all invited, and we are always trying. It would be a priority for us to invite folks who have not been to Boston yet this season, and we're actively looking to do that now. 
SONNIER | I'll go one step further: We have extended the invitation, and people we have yet to see on the show have accepted, so there you go! 

TVLINE | There we go! Maybe a Thanksgiving episode? Just a thought! Maybe next time we see Danny drive back to New York like he did at the end of Episode 17, we don't cut to black as soon as we see the approaching city skyline...
SONNIER | Yes, we don't end on him driving off. Just a thought! [Laughs]