Just How Old is Blue Bloods' Henry Reagan Really?

CBS's Blue Bloods was clearly not designed to become a hugely popular show with more than a dozen seasons, as viewers frequently find shameful continuity plot holes that can only be explained by the writers' inability to fix the facts introduced early on in the series.

And Henry Reagan, the patriarch of the NYPD dynasty and retired police commissioner, became a real problem for keeping Blue Bloods a realistic show, since fans are still not sure how old the character is.

It was revealed in season 13 that Henry is 88 years old, but fans don't buy it one bit, arguing that not only does he not look his age but his backstory also doesn't fit his age at all. We learned in the early seasons that, prior to joining the NYPD in 1952, Henry was a Marine in both World War II and the Korean War, making him a distinguished veteran. But while these facts correlate perfectly with Henry's character, they are simply not believable because of his age.

If Henry really fought in World War II, he would have to have been born in 1928, since only 17-year-olds could enlist in the army.

He could have falsified his birth certificate to enlist earlier (as many young boys did at the time), but that would mean he joined the army at the age of 12, which is highly unlikely.

This plot hole certainly affects the continuity of the series, and it looks like the writers decided not to fix it only because Henry is such an important character, and killing him because of his age would have been really hurtful to fans. While this mistake on the part of the writers isn't critical, viewers are still bothered that Blue Bloods is getting further and further away from reality.

Blue Bloods season 13 episode 16 will arrive on CBS on March 31, 2023.