"Blue Bloods" star Donnie Wahlberg and his co-stars, including Tom Selleck, struggled to get through filming the show’s final dinner scene.
In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Wahlberg recounted the emotional experience of working together for the last time.
"We were all walking this real delicate tightrope during the finale, knowing that it was the last episode and feeling very emotional each day," he said.
The 55-year-old boy band star-turned-actor sensed the finale may be emotional for the show's loyal viewers, too. The final dinner scene between the family of NYPD officers and detectives, led by Selleck, could have fans as teary-eyed as the cast was, he said.
"They may be sitting down feeling conflicted by emotion because it is the last episode," he said. "We definitely went to work every day knowing it was the last episode and tried to hold back the tears and the emotion, and the audience will probably do the same."
CBS will air the final episode of "Blue Bloods" on Friday, Dec. 13.
"I think when we finished filming is what I'll remember most," Wahlberg said. "We all just kind of sat there for a long time, and I think everyone was hesitating to say something to say goodbye because A, nobody wanted to, and B, everyone knew once somebody starts talking, it's a wrap."
WATCH: 'BLUE BLOODS' STAR DONNIE WAHLBERG IS GOING TO MISS THE 'CAST AND THE CREW' THE MOST AFTER THE UPCOMING FINAL SEASON
"The tissues are coming out and everyone's going to start crying, and sure enough they did."
Selleck recited a poem, something he often did during the show’s 14-season run, and this time the impact was even more emotional, Wahlberg said.
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"The first day we ever shot was the dinner scene, right? I didn't have time then to be in awe of Tom Selleck or to think, ‘Wow, when I was a little kid, if you told me I would work with Tom Selleck for 14 years — or ever — it would be more than I could ever have dreamed of.’ And now here I am, closing out 14 years with him, and I allowed myself to think about that while he was talking."
"I started crying and didn't stop for a few hours," he said.
Much of the emotion stemmed from working with Selleck after growing up watching him on television with his mother and grandmother, both of whom have since passed away.
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Wahlberg said he spoke after Selleck but "could barely get a word out."
"I don't know the exact words, but I think I really tried to convey how much the crew meant to me, and that even though it was a really difficult time for all of us to be saying goodbye, I just kind of encouraged everyone to just remember how lucky we all were to have been a part of this," he said. "If there's anything that can make you feel OK about such a special opportunity ending, it certainly would be the fact that you even had the opportunity to be part of something so special in the first place. I think that was really where I tried to go, and that's how I try to approach it every day."
In October, Wahlberg said he thinks the audience will "be happy."
"It feels like a finale, but a hopeful, forward-thinking finale," he shared on Sirius XM Andy Cohen Live.
