January 21, 2022

Law & Order Season 21 Trailer Reveals First Look At Sam Waterston's Return - Screen Rant

The official teaser for Law & Order season 21 reveals the first look at Sam Waterston's long-awaited return. Law & Order, which was created by Dick Wolf in 1990, is the original series that spawned the sprawling franchise that now has a half-dozen spinoffs including the long-running Law & Order: SVU, which stars Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson. Having currently completed 23 seasons with a 24th on the way, SVU has actually now run for more episodes than Law & Order itself, which was originally canceled after 20 seasons.

The past few years have seen a lot of returns for the Law & Order franchise. After Christopher Meloni, who played the character Elliott Stabler, left SVU in season 12, he recently returned in Law & Order: Organized Crime, reuniting with SVU's Olivia Benson in a series of crossover episodes. Then, in October 2021, NBC announced that they would develop a reboot of the original Law & Order, picking up 12 years later with Sam Waterston set to return as his character District Attorney Jack McCoy, who he played for 369 episodes.

NBC just dropped their official promo for Law & Order season 21, which debuts on February 24, 2022. It's a short, 15-second teaser, but it focuses largely on the return of Sam Waterston. Before a brief barrage of portentous clips from the coming season, he gravely intones the line "It's OK to play the hero, as long as you win." Check out the teaser below:

In addition to Sam Waterston, Anthony Anderson will be returning as his original Law & Order character Detective Kevin Bernard. One noted absence will be S. Epatha Merkerson, who played the character Lt. Anita Van Buren on 391 episodes, making her the longest-running cast member on the show. That role in the series will instead be replaced by Ghost Whisperer's Camryn Manheim as Lt. Kate Dixon. The season will also add the character Assistant District Attorney Samantha Maroun, played by Odelya Halevi, who has previously appeared on NCIS and MacGyver.

Although Law & Order season 21 is keeping most of the remainder of its cast under wraps, it is certain to feature cameos and recurring appearances from other legacy cast members. Likewise, it will have the ability to cross over with characters from other Law spinoffs, including the several shows in the universe that were created after its cancelation. There have also so far been no clues about what "ripped from the headlines" topics will be covered throughout the season, though as the premiere date draws closer, the plot of the first episode at least should become clear.

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Source: NBC

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Brennan Klein (524 Articles Published)

Brennan (he/him) is a senior writer at Screen Rant and a millennial who knows more about 80's slasher films than he has any right to. A former host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, Brennan has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror films) for a decade. Brennan's interests also include the Muppets, bubblegum pop from around the world, and reading (especially Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, the manga of Junji Ito, and novels of magical realism). His favorite film directors are Wes Craven and Pedro Almodóvar.