Showrunner Kevin Wade explained why he didn’t feel the need to include Baez in the family dinner scene, despite Danny asking her out for pizza earlier on in the episode.

“Honestly, it didn’t really come to the forefront,” he told Deadline in an interview published on December 13. “Because at the end of their last scene together, there was a hint of a whiff of a promise that they were going to leave that squad and go off to dinner and end up at one or the other’s house, yes. But it felt like a big leap, with only two minutes left, after 14 years, to introduce them like that at the dinner.”

The episode ended with Frank Reagan saying a prayer as his family members reunited at the dinner table for one final time. Eddie Janko-Reagan and Jamie Reagan announced they were expecting their first child during the final scene. Jack Boyle was also there after rekindling his romance with Erin Reagan. But for Kevin, it felt like it was not the right time to hard-launch Danny and Baez’s relationship.

“We’ve done it in Season 8 with Jamie and Eddie, and it felt like we had plenty of tarmac to get there,” he said. “This would have been a little too quick, I think. To me, it was just too fast. But that’s one of those things that I said before. Here’s what you can imagine in the future. If you love the show, feel free to draw it for yourself. We just left little, little crumbs there.”

“I think that Maria Baez really deserved a seat at the family dinner table, and not just pizza someplace else,” one person wrote on X after the finale aired. “Other than that, the #BlueBloods series finale was just fine — except, of course, for the fact that it was the #BlueBloodsFinale.”

“I half expected Baez to be at that dinner table. #BlueBloods,” another person said.

While many were hoping to see Baez at the final dinner, the episode was still one to remember. Donnie Wahlberg, who played Danny for 14 seasons of the hit series, penned a lengthy tribute to his fans on Instagram to reflect on his journey on the show.