Every Law & Order Cast Member Who Left The Revival (& Why)

NBCUniversal Published Aug 1, 2026, 9:30 PM EDT Laura Hurley has been writing about the entertainment industry for more than twelve years, after a decade as a content producer and editor at CinemaBlend after writing for WhatCulture and Examiner. Attending events like SCAD TVfest and San Diego Comic-Con over the course of her career, she has been immersed in the world of network, streaming, and cable TV. Sign in to your ScreenRant account Law & Order is all set to return to primetime this fall, but a major character will be leaving the precinct in season 26. Reid Scott, who has been playing Detective Vince Riley for the past three seasons, will not return as a series regular in NBC's fall 2026 schedule. Scott will be the sixth series regular to leave the Law & Order cast since it was revived for season 21. In fact, only two current cast members have been part of the show ever since it came back in 2022: Hugh Dancy and Odelya Halevi. Unlike Law & Order: SVU, which has been airing continuously since 1999, Law & Order was cancelled in 2010 after 20 seasons on NBC. In 2022, just one year after the franchise expanded to include Christopher Meloni's Law & Order: Organized Crime, the original show was revived. While the network didn't renew Law & Order season 26 until early May, it will be paired with SVU once more starting in the fall. NBC has changed its time slot, but kept the drama on Thursday nights. At this point, only one cast departure has been confirmed for season 26, so the majority of the characters are expected to be back to tackle new cases. Still, it's hard to ignore how many actors have left Law & Order over the five full revival seasons that have aired so far, especially when compared to Law & Order: SVU, with a cast full of actors who keep on returning for more. By this point, the revived version of Law & Order has lost most of its ties to the original run. The losses started when one of the only actors who reprised their role for the revival left after just one season. Anthony Anderson MovieStillsDB The vast majority of the Law & Order cast was brand new when the revival premiered in 2022, but Anthony Anderson was a notable exception. He played Detective Kevin Bernard in the final three seasons of the original run, and then returned to reprise the role for just one season of the revival. Anderson had only signed on for a single season, for the purpose of helping to relaunch Law & Order for Dick Wolf and Wolf Entertainment. The plan for just one season meant that his exit wasn't entirely shocking, nor a sign of bad blood between producers and the actor. Speaking with ET in 2022, Anderson explained why he left Law & Order: I wanted to go off and create more shows like Black-ish, create things that I have ownership in, and do something a little bit different. That said, Law & Order didn't give Bernard much of a sendoff. The season 21 finale didn't set up his exit in any way, and the season 22 premiere didn't even acknowledge his absence. The most he eventually got was a mention in the second episode of the season, which at least confirmed that Bernard wasn't killed off between seasons. Jeffrey Donovan MovieStillsDB Jeffrey Donovan joined Law & Order as Detective Frank Cosgrove for the revival, and he ultimately stayed for two full seasons. Cosgrove's partnership with Bernard was one of the main appeals of the revival from the start, even though Anthony Anderson's early exit meant that there was only one season of the two detectives together. Donovan stuck around long enough to be joined by a new partner (played by Supergirl's Mehcad Brooks), but his exit was confirmed between the end of season 23 and beginning of season 24. According to TVLine at the time, the Burn Notice star was let go from Law & Order due to creative reasons. The show did provide more of an explanation for Cosgrove's sudden absence in season 24 than it did for Bernard being absent in season 23, although it still left more questions than answers. Detective Jalen Shaw (Brooks) hinted that Cosgrove left because he "just got jammed up" for "being too honest about things people aren't too honest about these days." It wasn't much, but it was at least more than what Bernard got as a goodbye. Sam Waterston MovieStillsDB Sam Waterston was the only actor other than Anthony Anderson who was a series regular on the original Law & Order before returning for the revival. He played Jack McCoy for 400 episodes across 20 years, and McCoy is arguably one of the most legendary characters of the entire Law & Order franchise. The character who started out as an Assistant District Attorney in 1994 got to leave on his own terms in 2024, as Manhattan's respected District Attorney. He tried one last case, and then walked out of the courtroom with his head held high. The actor originally addressed his decision to leave Law & Order on Instagram in 2024, writing that "The time has come for me to move on and take Jack McCoy with me," and "There's sadness in leaving, but I'm just too curious about what's next." He later elaborated on his decision in an interview with the Los Angeles Times: I always knew that I was going to stay on a short time. I didn’t want to turn on the TV and see somebody else playing the part when the show came back [in 2022] but I knew it was not for the long term. This was always going to be the year [to leave]. And then “Law & Order” designed just a beautiful exit. I couldn’t have been more pleased with it. They gave me this fantastic send-off, with a pop-up delicatessen on the set, called Sam’s Delicatessen. The last shots were all in the courtroom and speeches were made. Dick Wolf showed up. It was something else. His final episodes as a Law & Order series regular saw him move on from his job as District Attorney, so there was no reason to expect to see McCoy back on the procedural. Still, McCoy was alive and well when last seen, so fans can always hold out hope that Sam Waterston will appear as a guest star at some point. Camryn Manheim MovieStillsDB Camryn Manheim was key to the police half of the Law & Order investigations during her three seasons as Lieutenant Kate Dixon. The Practice alum had big shoes to fill as the main NYPD officer of the show, after S. Epatha Merkerson played Lieutenant Anita Van Buren for 17 seasons. Dixon formed strong connections with her detectives, and had a special bond with Riley in particular. The actress, who had played three different characters during the original run of Law & Order before joining the revival as Dixon, never specifically addressed why she was moving on, although her statement on Instagram indicated that she was pursuing new opportunities. She wrote: I loved showing up for work each and every day, loved keeping the boys in line at Precinct 27 and most importantly, loved spending time with the most hard working, professional and kindhearted crew. They are truly New York’s finest. Something wonderful awaits me around the corner, and I can’t wait to see what it is. According to ComingSoon.net, salary and storyline issues prompted Manheim to move on from Law & Order, but the actress has never publically weighed in. She did make good on finding "something wonderful" after leaving the NBC show, as she landed a memorable guest-starring role on Fox's Murder in a Small Town. As for Dixon, Law & Order's season 24 premiere revealed that the former NYPD lieutenant decided to relocate to Miami after her son, Patrick, landed a job there. She didn't get an on-screen goodbye, but the explanation gave Riley and Shaw a moment to remember her fondly. Mehcad Brooks MovieStillsDB Mehcad Brooks was the next cast member who departed Law & Order between seasons, and his exit between seasons 24 and 25 meant that the show would move on without Detective Jalen Shaw. Shaw had one of the more unique backstories in the revival, since he was a lawyer before deciding to switch gears and become an NYPD detective. There was evidently no bad blood that led to Brooks' departure. Ahead of season 25, Deadline reported that the decision was mutual for Shaw to leave the 27th precinct, and the actor was pursuing other acting opportunities. On Instagram, Brooks described his time on the show as "an amazing, intense and deeply grounding experience," and went out of his way to praise to co-stars as well as the crew. He had already filmed episodes of ...And Just Like That, the Sex and the City spinoff, before officially leaving Law & Order. Shaw's absence was addressed in the season 25 premiere, when Lieutenant Jessica Brady (Maura Tierney) revealed that the detective had taken a job at the 88th precinct, which would allow him to fulfill his desire to go back to Brooklyn. Since Shaw is technically still part of the NYPD and simply moved over to another borough, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Mehcad Brooks could be back as a guest star at some point. Reid Scott MovieStillsDB The latest star to leave Law & Order is Reid Scott. His exit as Detective Riley comes less than one full season after David Ajala joined the drama to play Detective Theo Walker. While Riley and Walker didn't gel quite as quickly as Riley and Shaw did, there was no reason to expect that theirs would be a short-lived partnership until news broke about Scott moving on from Law & Order. Despite Scott still having one more year left on his contract, Deadline reports that the split was amicable due to the actor struggling with being away from his family for nine months per year to film Law & Order on location in New York City. Commuting across the country while working the schedule of a network TV procedural was evidently a strain on Scott. The good news is that Detective Riley could get the very best ending out of all the other characters who abruptly left the revival. Scott returned to Law & Order for multiple episodes of season 26, for the purpose of wrapping up Riley's arc. Unlike all the others, he'll get an on-screen exit, rather than just having other characters address his absence. The show has already found his replacement: 13 Hours' James Badge Dale, to play a new senior detective. Dale is expected to arrive after Scott has fully exited as Riley, although the timing is unclear at the time of writing. While fans may be disappointed that Law & Order's revival is losing yet another series regular, the show does seem set to give Riley the best possible goodbye. Release Date September 13, 1990 Network NBC Showrunner Rick Eid Cast S. Epatha Merkerson Lieutenant Anita Van Buren Directors Constantine Makris, Edwin Sherin, Jace Alexander, David Platt, Matthew Penn, Martha Mitchell, Don Scardino, Christopher Misiano, Jean de Segonzac, Michael Pressman, Daniel Sackheim, Alex Chapple, Fred Berner, Fred Gerber, Gloria Muzio, James Frawley, Jim McKay, Vincent Misiano, Michael W. Watkins, Vern Gillum, Alex Hall, Dann Florek, Darnell Martin, David Grossman Writers René Balcer, Matt Witten, David Slack, Aaron Zelman, David Wilcox, Morgan Gendel, Pamela J. Wechsler, Lynne E. Litt, Marc Guggenheim, Stephanie Sengupta, Scott Gold, Walon Green, Gerry Conway, Sean Jablonski, Nick Santora, Chris Levinson, Christine Roum, Gordon Rayfield, Hall Powell, Keith Eisner, Julie Martin, Gia Gordon, Joe Gannon, Jonathan Collier Franchise(s) Law and Order Creator(s) Dick Wolf