For 14 years, audiences have sat at the Reagan dinner table on “Blue Bloods,” watching a cast that feels like family. Having built a rapport together over this impressively lengthy run, the “Blue Bloods” cast is closer than many fans think, according to Donnie Wahlberg, who plays Detective Danny Reagan, the eldest son of the Reagans. Things like that take time, though, and the star admitted that he initially had doubts he would be able to pass himself off as the son of the great Frank Reagan, played by Tom Selleck, and worried it might even cost him his job.

While appearing on the podcast “Brotherly Love,” Wahlberg recalled meeting his on-screen dad for the first time and struggling to wrap his head around being cut from the same cloth, even with Selleck’s enthusiasm for his work on “Band of Brothers.” “I walked in the room, and he’s like 6’4″. I’m like 5’11”, I think,” Wahlberg said. The differences didn’t end there, either. He continued, “I’m like, ‘Oh my god, he’s got so much hair. His eyebrows are so bushy.’ I didn’t even care about the mustache. I was like, ‘How am I this dude’s son? … They’re gonna fire me tomorrow.’”

Thankfully, a blessing on this fictional family tree arrived when he met with his on-screen grandfather, which reassured Wahlberg he could play off being bound by blood after all.

Len Cariou was Donnie Wahlberg’s lifeline in Blue Bloods

With Donnie Wahlberg believing that height differences and hairlines had his latest gig hanging in the balance, the “Blue Bloods” lead found a savior in the form of his co-star Len Cariou. Compared to the mustached mountain that was Tom Selleck, Cariou was smaller, even shorter than Wahlberg, joining the cast as the grandfather of the Reagan family and former NYC police commissioner Henry Reagan. This addition helped balance out these vital family matters so that Wahlberg was no longer concerned he’d lose his seat when they finally did sit down at that iconic dinner table.

Speaking on the podcast, the man behind Detective Reagan recalled being put at ease, saying, “Then I met the grandfather, who’s played by Len Cariou, and he’s shorter than me, same hairline. I was like, ‘All right, I got his genes. I’m good.’” From there, “Blue Bloods” became a staple of television for audiences, cementing these three stars and other talent on the show as a solid family unit that has all laid down the law in its own way.