‘Law & Order’ Cast Teases ‘Familiar Faces’ and Returning Guest Stars for Revival

Law & Order fans will be seeing some “familiar faces” as the Dick Wolf show returns Feb. 24 to NBC nearly a dozen years after its initial conclusion. Showrunner-writer Rick Eid and the cast, including Sam Waterston, Anthony Anderson, Camryn Manheim, Jeffrey Donovan, Hugh Dancy and Odelya Halevi, opened up about some of the Law & Order alum who will be popping in during NBC’s Scripted Press Day panel Friday. 

“You’ll definitely see some familiar faces along the way,” Eid shared, teasing “several of our alumni” will return “in some capacity” in the coming days. “One of the most amazing things on the show … [is] you come to work, and then New York’s finest actors just come and play with you,” said Camryn Manheim, who was cast as a new character, Lt. Kate Dixon. “I have been surprised and excited already several times, and I think the viewers will be too.”

Law & Order‘s revival comes after years of pushing from Wolf, who Waterston said has always had “complete conviction that it was a terrible mistake to stop [the show] in the first place.” Returning to the world of the New York legal system in 2022 is returning during a “unique moment in time,” Eid noted, as the way policing and prosecuting cases has changed so much. 

“I think we’re gonna try our best to reflect the world we live in now,” he continued. Waterston called Eid’s take on the new world of Law & Order an “exciting” way to return, noting that the showrunner could “dodge” a lot of the issues with the legal system that have come to light in recent years but has chosen not to. 

For Anderson, that return to Law & Order comes as he wraps his successful show Black-ish, airing its eighth and final season now. “Ending eight seasons on our show Black-ish and coming back to an iconic show in Law & Order was a no-brainer for me,” Anderson said, continuing, “Leaving one great show to go back to another great show – I jumped at the opportunity to do it. I thought it would have been a foolish move not to come back to a show I’m such a fan of.” Law & Order Season 21 premieres Thursday, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.