Blue Bloods star shares fan excitement ahead of surprise return

Donnie Wahlberg in Blue Bloods
Donnie Wahlberg in Blue Bloods (Image credit: CBS)

The Blue Bloods season 13 finale is promising to be one to remember, as it is set to bring back a character that fans haven't seen on the crime drama since season 3 — Jennifer Esposito's Detective Jackie Curatola. Jackie returns to help her former partner with a troubling case.

According to the synopsis for the episode, titled "Forgive Us Our Trespasses,' as Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and Baez (Marisa Ramirez) are working to find a killer that is emulating murders from a previous case, they team up with Danny's former partner Jackie. In an exclusive clip shared with TVLine, it seems that this case is a bit personal for Jackie.

Esposito's Jackie was the partner to Danny through the first three seasons, appearing in 46 episodes before leaving the show after seven episodes in season 3. However, it was not a clean exit. In 2012, The Hollywood Reporter detailed that Esposito was upset with how CBS treated her after she was diagnosed with Celiac disease (an autoimmune disorder caused by a reaction to wheat products), claiming they forced her out of the show rather than let her work with a reduced schedule.

This makes her return quite a surprise for fans and a redeeming one for Esposito, who shared an article from CBR.com that called her return "the ending Jackie deserved."

Fans also shared how happy they were that Espoito's Jackie is back. 

In the time between Esposito's appearances on Blue Bloods, she has starred in The Affair, NCIS, The Boys and, most recently, Somewhere in Queens.

Of course, the return of Jackie is not the only thing happening in the season finale. Frank (Tom Selleck) and Mayor Chase are forced to deal with their differing views on how to handle the city's homeless population, while Jamie (Will Estes), Eddie (Vanessa Ray) and Erin (Bridget Moynahan) work together to gather evidence on a previously released man they believe is once again committing criminal assault.

So, needless to say, it is going to be a stuffed finale for Blue Bloods season 13. Fans can watch the season finale in the show's usual time slot, 10 pm ET/PT on Friday, May 19, on CBS. If you miss it live, you can catch up with it the next day on Paramount Plus, which also has all previous episodes from the series.

Michael Balderston

Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca, Moulin Rouge!, Silence of the Lambs, Children of Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars. On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd.