30 July 2026
Tom Selleck agreed a 25 percent pay cut because he wanted to keep Blue Bloods on the air.
Tom Selleck agreed to a pay cut
The 81-year-old actor – who portrayed NYC Police Commissioner Frank Reagan in Blue Bloods from 2010 until 2024 – has revealed that he and his castmates all agreed to a pay cut, because they felt so strongly about the police drama series.
During an appearance on the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast, Tom explained: “The real truth to that is in the last year of [Blue Bloods], at our last family dinner, everybody wanted to come back. We’d already taken a 25 percent cut in salary.”
Tom admits that he never wanted to walk away from Blue Bloods.
The veteran actor shared: “Nobody wanted to leave. Everybody was gonna stay on. That’s hard to get. It may be some kind of record to have the same cast intact for that length of time.”
Tom felt particularly frustrated by the decision to cancel the show, because Blue Bloods remained popular with viewers.
He said: “Out of the top 100 shows on broadcast television, Blue Bloods was number six in our 15th year.”
Meanwhile, Tom previously explained that he had a “lovely experience” on Friends.
The actor appeared in ten episodes of the hit TV sitcom between 1996 and 2000, and Tom still has fond memories of the experience.
The Hollywood star – who played Dr. Richard Burke, Monica Geller’s love interest, on the TV show – told Parade magazine: “People talk to me about my role on ‘Friends’ all the time. It was a lovely experience, something I didn’t see coming.
“They just explained this idea and you had to make a leap of faith. They didn’t have a script or anything.
“I remember I was supposed to do three shows, and on the third show at the table read, somebody said, ‘Oh, that’s right, this is your last show. I wish you could come back.’ I said, ‘Well, nobody asked me.’ So that turned into ten shows.”
Asked if he’d like to appear in another comedy, Tom replied: “I would love to do another comedy. The right kind of comedy.
“Friends made people laugh and cry at times. That’s the kind of comedy I enjoy doing. Three Men and a Baby had that, too.”
