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Law & Order Season 24 Cast — Who’s Returning and Who’s Joining?
While most of the investigators and prosecutors are returning for Season 24, there's at least one departing character and one new addition.
Law & Order fans will be relieved to see that many of their favorite characters are returning — but there will also be one new face in the group.
Maura Tierney joins the 27th Precinct as Lieutenant Jessica Brady when Season 24 kicks off Thursday, October 3 at 8/7c p.m. on NBC.
Brady takes the job previously held by Lt. Kate Dixon (Camryn Manheim), who kept the detectives at that precinct in line for three seasons on the criminal justice drama.
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Brady makes her first appearance in the Season 24 premiere, just as the dust is settling over District Attorney Nicholas Baxter’s (Tony Goldwyn) election win, but Baxter and Brady won’t be the only members of the team working hard to bring criminals to justice.
Read on to find out more about who’s returning and joining the Law & Order cast and what they’ll be up to in Season 24.
Maura Tierney as Lt. Jessica Brady
Lt. Jessica Brady may be new to the precinct, but according to Law & Order showrunner Rick Eid, who also serves as an executive producer and writer on the series, she’s already a seasoned investigator with some unparalleled detective skills.
“Unlike most lieutenants, I think she still thinks and acts like a detective and is more engaged day-to-day than most lieutenants — meaning she's active in interrogations and almost acts like another detective as opposed to a supervisor,” Eid told NBC Insider.
RELATED: Everything To Know About Maura Tierney’s New Law & Order Lieutenant, Jessica Brady
With a “near photographic memory” and an ability to pick up on small details like “accents and tics,” Brady is an asset in investigations, Eid added. But the reason for her uncanny abilities won’t be explained — at least not early in the season.
“She kind of sees things that a lot of detectives and people don't see and the reason for it, we don't really disclose it yet — or who knows, maybe ever,” Eid said, also describing her as “results-oriented” and someone who “does things her own way.”
Brady’s entry onto the scene is expected to be a somewhat difficult adjustment for Detectives Vincent Riley (Reid Scott) and Jalen Shaw (Mehcad Brooks), who enjoyed an easy working relationship with their prior boss, Lt. Dixon.
“It’s a little unsettling to have a new boss come in that they don’t know, and they don’t really love bosses,” Eid said. “On top of that, the character Maura plays isn’t particularly warm and fuzzy and inviting.”
Tony Goldwyn as District Attorney Nicholas Baxter
The detectives at the 27th Precinct aren’t the only characters trying to find a rhythm with their new boss. Season 23 of Law & Order saw a major shake up in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office after long-running DA Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) resigned from his position following a dramatic final courtroom win.
Nicholas Baxter, a politically connected prosecutor played by Scandal’s Tony Goldwyn, was appointed as his replacement, but it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing for the new DA.
From the start, there was noticeable tension with Executive Assistant District Attorney Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy), who often felt his new boss’ decisions were politically motivated. The tension between the two men finally reached a boiling point in Season 23, Episode 12, while they were working together on the difficult murder case of a criminal psychologist.
RELATED: Will Tony Goldwyn’s DA Nicholas Baxter Be Back on Law & Order in Season 24?
An emotional outburst cleared the air between the two men, but just as they were settling into a better working relationship, Baxter was the target of an assassination attempt in the Season 23 finale. The shooter accidentally struck a famous baseball player at a charity event after Baxter moved out of the way just in time. Investigators ultimately identified the shooter as a loyal servant to a violent street gang that had a prior grievance with Baxter.
To ensure the shooter landed behind bars, Baxter, who was already facing pressure during a high-stakes election, put his own adult daughter Carrie (played by Goldwyn’s real-life daughter Tess Goldwyn) on the stand, even though it exposed a dark secret about her past and put him at odds with his wife Julia. On the stand, Carrie admitted she hit a man with her car during her college years after she’d been drinking, and that her dad helped get the charges against her reduced to a misdemeanor. The admission put Baxter’s political future and marriage in jeopardy.
When Season 24 picks up, Baxter will have won the election, Eid told NBC Insider, but the future of his marriage remains hanging in the balance.
Hugh Dancy as Executive Assistant District Attorney Nolan Price
Even with McCoy no longer in office, Executive Assistant District Attorney Nolan Price is determined to live up to the same high standards that his former boss instilled in him during their years together.
McCoy’s emotional departure in Season 23 proved difficult for the veteran prosecutor, who struggled to accept the more politically-motivated Baxter as the new leader of the DA’s office. There was subtle friction between the two men for weeks, until their explosive fight brought their issues to a head.
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Eid said that in Season 24, Price and Baxter's relationship has “settled in a bit more," but that doesn’t mean there won’t be some remaining growing pains.
“The character Nick Baxter is a little bit different than the character of McCoy and the relationship between McCoy and Price is different than Baxter and Price,” Eid told NBC Insider. “I think Baxter is a little bit more political, a little bit more opaque, so you don’t really know where he’s coming from all the time, so that’s a little more complicated from Price’s perspective.”
Odelya Halevi as Assistant District Attorney Samantha Maroun
As Odelya Halevi, who plays Assistant District Attorney Samantha Maroun, told NBC Insider during Season 23, Maroun’s “power” is that she “brings empathy to the table.”
But her ability to see a suspect’s humanity nearly put her job in jeopardy in Season 23 after one emotionally-charged case brought up memories of her own past.
When a Ukrainian refugee — who saw her husband and young son die in a bombing at their Kyiv home — killed a woman, her attorney argued she was not guilty by reason of insanity as a result of the past trauma.
For Maroun, it triggered memories of her own parents' and grandparents' “residual” trauma after fleeing Lebanon during a civil war.
Maroun was tasked with cross-examining the suspect, but lobbed a series of “softball” questions to the woman, according to Price, who called an emergency recess and accused her of “intentionally throwing the case.”
Price told her she should either “tender your resignation” or get back into the courtroom and “figure out a way to rise to the occasion.” In the end, Maroun put her own past aside and asked the hard questions necessary to secure a guilty verdict.
Mehcad Brooks as Detective Jalen Shaw
Homicide Detective Jalen Shaw, played by Mehcad Brooks, may have a tough exterior, but the seasoned investigator is also known for his ability to connect with others and de-escalate high pressure situations with ease.
In Season 23, he put those problem solving skills to work as he adjusted to having a new partner, Detective Riley.
Brooks told NBC Insider just before the Season 23 premiere that “having a new partner is fantastic” and that the characters' relationship brought a “little more comedy" to the show.
“We’re the odd couple, but at the same time, we’re so alike. We want the same things but we’re coming from such different worlds and different perspectives that it does cause for a lot of comedy, it does cause for some amiable conflict,” he said.
In Season 24, Shaw will find himself adjusting once again — this time to a new boss.
Reid Scott as Detective Vincent Riley
Detective Vincent Riley, played by Reid Scott, was fresh off a suspension when he joined the 27th Precinct in Season 23. Fans learned that the new detective had punched a police captain while defending Dixon’s honor, after the captain called her “something he shouldn’t have.”
RELATED: Tony Goldwyn's Real-Life Daughter Tess Plays His Child on Law & Order Season 23 Finale
At the time, Riley was struggling with caring for his dying father and his imploding marriage and had been drinking on the job. The punch earned him a six-month suspension, but Dixon remained in his corner, determined to give him a second shot.
“I had to fight like hell to get him over here. I called in every single favor I had, so I’d really appreciate it if you just take it easy on him, ok?,” Dixon told Price at one point. “He threw a punch for me, who does that? And as stupid and as reckless as it was, I appreciate what he did.”
Riley's partnership with Detective Jalen Shaw may have gotten off to a rocky start, but the two quickly settled into a solid working relationship.
Heading into Season 24, Eid said fans can look forward to meeting Riley’s brother, played by New Amsterdam’s Ryan Eggold.
To stay on top of what's going on with your favorite Law & Order characters, watch Season 24 on Thursdays at 8/7c p.m. on NBC or stream episodes on Peacock the next day.
