‘Law & Order’: Sam Waterston Returns as Jack McCoy in First Teaser for Revival

The first teaser trailer for Law & Order‘s revival debuted during the franchise’s broadcast block on Thursday. The short teaser brings back Sam Waterston as District Attorney Jack McCoy, sharing wisdom on what it takes to “play the hero” in Dick Wolf’s world.

The teaser, dubbed by the show’s Twitter account as “the one that started it all,” welcomes back Waterston and gives a glimpse at new additions to the cast, Oldelya Halevi as ADA Samantha Maroun, Jeffrey Donovan as Det. Frank Cosgrove and Hugh Dancy as Nathan Price.

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The revival will hit NBC on Thursday, Feb. 24, returning alongside other Law & Order series after the Winter Olympics wrap up. This will be billed as Season 21 of the series, hoping to pick right up where the original show left off. The series will also return to the original format, examining “The police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders” throughout the first and second half of an episode.

NBC went all-in with Dick Wolf in 2021, expanding his Chicago trio of shows and adding a new Law & Order spinoff, Organized Crime. Law & Order: SVU also hit landmark territory in 2021 by airing its 500th episode and welcoming Christopher Meloni back to the franchise.

SVU stands only behind The Simpsons, Gunsmoke and Lassie as TV series with the most episodes. Only The Simpsons and SVU are currently still airing. SVU also surpassed the original Law & Order series run, passing the 456-episode mark and never looking back.

Apart from Waterston, Anthony Anderson is also set to return to Law & Order for the revival. It is unknown if any other former stars will return to fill their classic roles. Sadly, longtime lead Jerry Orbach and his replacement Dennis Farina both passed away before the initial run’s cancellation. There are also several actors that are either gone from the franchise or have landed spots in other Wolf productions like FBI and the Chicago franchise. A notable standout is Jesse L. Martin, who played Det. Ed Green for nine seasons before leaving in season 18.