Age Confusion: Just How Old Blue Bloods Characters Really Are?
Screenwriters will sometimes leave out specific in-universe information, either to pique the audience's interest and get them to unravel complex plot twists or simply due to oversight during script development.
As a result, fans often revisit movies and shows repeatedly to piece together the missing details and fill the gaps in their knowledge.
Blue Bloods serves as a prime example. The police procedural drama's plot can leave fans puzzled about the ages of the Reagan siblings and the order in which they were born.
So, let's dive into the Reagan family's chronology!
Frank Reagan, the family patriarch, has four children: Daniel, Erin, Jamie, and the late Joseph. Born in the early 1950s, Frank joined the NYPD in the early 1970s and married Mary Margaret Conor around the same time. This timeline puts Frank in his early 70s during the most recent seasons. However, when it comes to his children's ages, some major continuity errors seem to crop up.
Let's begin with Joseph (a.k.a. Joe), the character with the most inconsistencies. Danny is listed as the eldest son throughout most of the series and on the official CBS website. However, in season 8's episode Common Ground, Frank specifically refers to Joe as his oldest son, creating quite a bit of confusion.
Joe's gravestone states his birth and death dates as 5 June 1977 and 15 May 2009, respectively. Therefore, he passed away at 31, just shy of his birthday. In comparison, Erin celebrated her 40th birthday in November 2015 during season 6, making her 19 months younger than Joe.
Additionally, the first two seasons (e.g., episodes Cellar Boy and Reagan vs. Reagan) mention that Daniel is two years older than Erin.
As for Jamie, he had recently graduated from the police academy after finishing Harvard during season 1, putting him at around 35–38 years old as of the time of this writing.
With this information, Blue Bloods fans can piece together the following: Danny is indeed the oldest son at 48–49 years old, followed by Erin at around 47, then Joe (who would have turned 45), and finally, Jamie, who is now between 35 and 38.