It’s the end of an era at Law & Order with Sam Waterston’s exit
Sam Waterston is leaving NBC's long-running drama after 20 seasons, and his replacement has already been announced
TV News Law & Order
So long, Jack McCoy. At least that’s what everyone will be saying (again) to Law & Order’s resident DA later this month. Don’t worry, the legal drama isn’t ending anytime soon—Dick Wolf would sooner face an apocalypse than let go of his long-running series—but Sam Waterston is leaving the show he joined in 1994. And you know what? We can’t begrudge him for exiting a job after 30 rewarding, but probably also exhausting, years.
Waterston joined Law & Order halfway through season four of its original run, which began in 1990. Once it ended in 2010, he returned to reprise the role in NBC’s revival starting in 2022. He’s appeared in over 400 episodes of the show (let’s digest that) taking McCoy from assistant district attorney to interim DA to, finally in season 20, the District Attorney. The performance earned him multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.
In a statement (via The Hollywood Reporter), the actor shared a long goodbye, stating, “The time has come for me to move on and take Jack McCoy with me. There’s sadness in leaving, but I’m just too curious about what’s next. An actor doesn’t want to let himself get too comfortable. I’m more grateful to you than I can say… I feel very blessed. I hope to see you all on the flip side.”
If you’re worried about how the hell the Law & Order world will function normally without a DA, don’t be. NBC has already announced a scandalous replacement for him. It’s not necessarily shocking, but it is Scandal’s Tony Goldwyn, who will be hopping aboard NBC’s drama as the new district attorney. The network is keeping his character’s name and details under wraps for now. Goldwyn previously directed season 16's “Thinking Makes It So,” and he also appeared in a spin-off, Law & Order: Criminal Intent for four episodes. Hey, it’s classic L&O to recast actors for different parts.
The show also stars Hugh Dancy, Reid Scott, Mehcad Brooks, Camryn Manheim, and Odelya Halevi. Waterston’s last episode airs on Thursday, February 22 at 8 p.m. ET.
34 Comments
Sam Waterston’s entire career has been so great you could delete Jack McCoy from his resume and he still had a great career.The Killing Fields and Crimes and Misdemeanors still hold up and remain two of my favorite films.
I’ll Fly Away was great, in fact, when Michael Moriarty left, I was bummed until it was announced Sam Waterston was taking over, loved him in that show.
Long before an Irishman played Oppenheimer, Waterston played him in the 1980 British miniseries. It’s worth a look if you are interested in Oppenheimer at all. It’s on Youtube (or at least was).
The 1974 version of ‘The Great Gatsby’ is not a particularly excellent film – it’s really hard to live up to the book – but I loved Waterston as Nick Carraway. He found a real sweet spot of naïveté and world weariness.
He’s also in Hopscotch (1980 or so), with Walter Matthau, about a CIA agent (Matthau; Waterston plays his partner, or colleague, or similar) who’s about to get fired and writes a tell-all and gets chased around the world for it. It’s a comedy, and it’s great.
IIRC from the trade rags at the time, the story was that Waterston’s ‘elevation’ was a planned cost saving strategy – it was even hinted at during the end of Season 17 – since moving him to a supporting role meant his salary was a lot more tenable for a show with ratings nowhere close to its glory days.It ended up working out pretty well during Seasons 18-20 when the show rebounded a decent amount from its trough years. Made for a decent background story arc the first year as he squirmed at the compromises required to get elected for a full term, and in the third year I remember a critic raving about the scene where he got to pull a full Jack McCoy nuclear strike rant on a lawyer protecting a client who was about to commit a mass school murder, “I’ll resign and then sue you as an individual!”But his return in Season 21 was just kind of hollow. I don’t know if it was the feeling that he’d aged significantly during the interim given his performances, or being a victim of the overall terrible writing of the reincarnation of the show, or something in between, but it was one of many reasons I stopped watching.I’ll probably catch his finale, though, just to see if they do anything for it.
I’ll probably catch his finale, though, just to see if they do anything for it.It would be fun to bring back all of the actors who portrayed his assistant D.A.s over the years for his retirement party, actors like Richard Brooks, Jill Hennessy, Carey Lowell, Angie Harmon, Elisabeth Röhm and so on.
Always loved the long-running joke about how hot his ADAs were.
I still think fondly of the bit where Jack tells Claire he only slept with three of his female ADAs. Then, at the end of the episode, Claire says she checked and he’s only had three female ADAs.
They got very lucky in having a pre-breakout Edie Falco occasionally showing up as one of those three.
Richard brooks had already left shown when Waterston first showed up. Also Jill Hennessy’s character is dead (through I supposed you could reveal she has a twin sister we, the viewer, never knew about).
I guess I’m not much of a fan of the show. Oh well.
He did come back a few times though as opposing counsel, and McCoy acted like he knew him already, so I guess they had some acquaintance off-screen.
That would be fantastic, because Hennessey HAS an identical twin sister, Jacqueline. She doubled for Jill on L&O a couple of times. The two made their film debuts as twin call girls in “Dead Ringers.”
Only if Röhm asks if McCoy’s leaving because she’s a lesbian.
I knew he wasn’t settling in for another 15-year run, but the reboot failed to make the most of him while they had him. Steven Hill was getting close to 80 when he left, and he still got some great lines and zingers for his one or two scenes per episode.
I think the deal was that Hill played a grumpy old curmudgeon, whereas McCoy’s schtick was energetic.
I think I knew him too well as Jack McCoy to get fully immersed in his other roles. When I saw him in Grace and Frankie I had a hard time getting my brain around how the District Attorney got so much time off work to hang out with his new boyfriend.
Good for him. It’s a shitshow now and he was always the best part of it. I hope he enjoys his next move. People who only know him from Law & Order are missing out on some of his best work.
He’s going to sell Old Glory robot insurance full-time now?
I’m surprised Tom Selleck isn’t doing that for real.
He’s got that sweet reverse mortgage gig.
RIP Fred Thompson.
That’s exactly my point – why stop at preying on the elderly in just one way?
I had no idea the reboot was still running. I think I watched a few episodes of it and was turned off by the shallow, forced-sounding equivocating over racism and policing. I think I preferred it when it was a fantasy show where the cops were always the good guys (except for the few times some other cops weren’t). At least then the show knew what it was doing.
Call me crazy, but I don’t even know why they continued making this show after Jude Law left.
He was getting long in the tooth in the original run which ended 14 years ago. I’m actually shocked he came back for season 2 of the continuation, never mind season 3.
*stacking boxes at a dock*“Yeah, Jack McCoy, I knew the guy. Great attorney, great guy. Haven’t seen him in a while…”
DUN-DUN!
I think it’s only fitting that his last episode features him being arrested and tried for a crime he did commit, but, still acting as DA, he makes a plea deal with himself for a reduced sentence.The judge will allow it, but he’ll be on thin ice.
Am I the only one who momentarily blacks out with rage whenever I see a photo of Tony Goldwyn? I internally scream fuck you Carl, you killed Sam!
Then I come back to reality and realize he got his in the end.
Just a regular episode until the very last segment. He is voted out by recall, asks at press conference if it’s because he’s a lesbian.
The crowd, collectively, looks taken aback. “No,” they say in union, “no. Of course not.”McCoy nods to himself, slowly, shakily. “Good.”
curious. We’ll see how it goes.