Sam Waterston Leaves ‘Law & Order’: Meet His Replacement

Sam Waterston is bowing out of Law & Order. Variety reports that after over 400 episodes, the actor will be exiting the legal drama as District Attorney Jack McCoy after the Feb. 22 episode. In addition, Scandal star Tony Goldwyn will be replacing him as the newest district attorney.

Waterston has been a mainstay on the series since 1994, joining in the fifth season. He stayed on Law & Order through its original run in 2010. When the Law & Order, he was one of the first to sign on. No details have been released about the upcoming episode and how fans will say goodbye. Hopefully it will be in a way that leaves the door open, should Waterston would want to ever return as Jack McCoy.

His exit is the latest casting change for Law & Order. Jeffery Donovan exited ahead of the 23rd season due to creative differences. Reid Scott stepped in to replace him. Meanwhile, on a much bigger scale, Waterston’s departure is the latest of surprising Dick Wolf Ent. casting changes across the Law & Order, One Chicago, and FBI franchises. What this means for the character is unknown, but fans only have less than a month to prep their goodbyes and hope that it’s a good one.

Meanwhile, fans will know Tony Goldwyn from playing U.S. President Fitzgerald Thomas Grant III on the ABC political drama Scandal. Most recently he was in one of the biggest movies of 2023, Oppenheimer, as well as Netflix’s Murder Mystery 2. Law & Order will mark Goldwyn’s first TV role in nearly three years, having starred in the second season of the National Geographic anthology drama The Hot Zone. Other TV roles include Lovecraft Country, The L Word, L.A. Law, and Frasier.

Coincidentally, he can now add his name to the list of actors who have appeared as more than one character in the Law & Order franchise. He appeared in four episodes of Criminal Intent during Seasons 6 and 7 as Frank Goren, the drug addict half-brother of Vincent D’Onofrio’s Detective Robert Goren. Considering his character died on Criminal Intent, the chances that he will be reprising that role are slim to none. But it will be exciting to see what he will bring to the table as a DA.

Tune in to Sam Waterston’s final episode as DA Jack McCoy on Thursday, Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. ET as part of NBC’s 2024 spring schedule. It’s unknown when Tony Goldwyn will make his debut, but it shouldn’t be too long after.