‘Law & Order’ Revival Adds Emmy-Winning Actress Whose First-Ever TV Role Was on Show’s 1st Season

Law & Order is bringing on Emmy-winning actress Camryn Manheim as a series regular for the NBC revival, reports Deadline, premiering Feb. 24 as part of a Law & Order Thursday lineup. The Practice alum actually got her start on Law & Order during its first season three decades ago, making a guest appearance in her first TV role ever, and would go on to appear both in Seasons 3 and 4 as different characters. 

In the reboot, Manheim will play a new character, Lt. Kate Dixon, the successor to Lt. Anita Van Buren, played by S. Epatha Merkerson in Seasons 4 through 20 of the Emmy-winning series. Merkerson will not be reprising her role for now, as she appears as a series regular on another Dick Wolf series, Chicago Med. Manheim is best known for her Emmy-winning role on ABC’s The Practice but has also had major roles on Stumptown, Waco, Ghost Whisperer, Person of Interest and Extant.

“I am over the moon to be joining the cast of Law & Order as Lt. Kate Dixon,” Manheim wrote on Instagram alongside news of her casting. “My very first job on television was on Law & Order, so it feels like I’m coming home. New York, here I come!”

Manheim joins fellow new Law & Order main cast additions, Jeffrey Donovan, who plays an NYPD detective, and Hugh Dancy, who plays an Assistant District Attorney. Returning to his role on Law & Order for the 21st season is Anthony Anderson, who will be reprising his role as Detective Kevin Bernard. Meanwhile, Sam Waterston remains in negotiations to return as District Attorney Jack McCoy.

News of the Law & Order revival broke in September, coming off the premiere earlier this year of Law & Order: Organized Crime, a Christopher Meloni-led spinoff following his beloved Law & Order: Special Victims Unit character Elliot Stabler, as he returns to the NYPD after years abroad. Upon the announcement of the flagship series’ revival, Wolf said in a statement, “There are very few things in life that are literally dreams come true. This is mine.”

The new chapter of Law & Order from Wolf and writer-showrunner Rick Eid will pick up where the show left off in 2010, following “the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.” Law & Order returns to NBC on Feb. 24 as part of the Law & Order Thursday lineup.