Steve Schirripa was welcomed to Blue Bloods like family.
In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the actor, 67, opens up about how the cast of the CBS show treated him when he joined the series in 2015 to portray Detective Anthony Abetemarco.
“It was a very close-knit group, really, a nice group of people,” Schirripa says. “I didn’t know anyone, so it’s strange when you’re stepping in and everyone knows each other, and you’re the new guy.”
“But they treated me like one of them from day one,” adds the star, who recently partnered with Freshpet for a new ad.
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According to Schirripa, he starred in Blue Bloods for much longer than initially anticipated.
“I was there nine years. I went in for one, maybe two episodes. I did 146,” he says. “I did two episodes and the showrunners said, ‘Would you like to do more?’ And I said, ‘I’d love to.’ So I stuck around and they wrote some great stuff for me.”
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For Schirripa, getting to be a part of an all-star cast was incredible, and he loved working alongside others, including Donnie Wahlberg, Bridget Moynahan and Tom Selleck.
“I mostly worked with Bridget and Donnie, but I wound up working eventually with everyone at one point, so that was good,” the Sopranos alum says. “I love working with Bridget, she’s a terrific, underrated actress who was just wonderful to work with, really smart, and Donnie is a great guy and a lot of fun.”
After 14 seasons, Blue Bloods came to an end earlier this month.
“Everyone was really sad [about the show ending] because the ratings were good. We couldn’t understand why it got canceled,” Schirripa tells PEOPLE. “But it was a wonderful run and … it was really terrific on every level.”
As for keeping in touch with his former castmates, the actor says, “I just saw Bridget at the [New York] Knicks game, and I talked to Will Estes the other day. We keep in touch.”
Blue Bloods is available to stream on Paramount+.
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