Fans Think Sami Gayle (a.k.a. Nicky Reagan) Is Coming Back to 'Blue Bloods' This Season (2024)

• Sami Gayle has played Nicky Reagan in Blue Bloods since 2010.
• Shortly into the 10th season, Sami left the show, but she made a brief return in season 11.
• Here's everything we know about why she left the cast, and whether she'll be making a reappearance soon.

Nicky is back! The Blue Bloods star, portrayed by Sami Gayle, is returning for the season 14 finale. She was last seen on an episode of season 11 of the hit CBS drama.

The show's official Instagram account gave fans a peek at the "very special guests" on the finale through a series of photos, which shows Nicki returning along with Jackie (Jennifer Esposito) and Jackie and Tony Terraciano as Jack.

In case you forgot, Nicky has been a member of Sunday night dinners since the show’s inception. While she was only a recurring character in season one, she went on to be a mainstay seasons two through 10. But, after accepting a new job in San Francisco in episode five—“The Price You Pay”—of season 10, the reality of Nicky being present in every episode started to dwindle. So much so that viewers didn’t see her again until episode 16. She returned one more time for episode 3 of season 11.

This, of course, made fans wonder why the actress stopped being a regular and eventually left the show to begin with.

Why did Sami Gayle leave Blue Bloods?

Part of it has to do with going to school at Columbia while simultaneously attending the university fictitiously in the show. Her growing career also contributes to her less regular appearances. She's currently appearing in Andrew Lloyd Weber's Bad Cinderella on Broadway. Sami has yet to make a public statement about her exact reason for leaving Blue Bloods, but we're hoping she returns to the dinner table again soon.