Original Law & Order Revival Casts Jeffrey Donovan As New Lead Character

Actor Jeffrey Donovan has been cast as a new lead character in the Law & Orderrevival show. Law & Order was created by Dick Wolf and debuted in 1990 on NBC, running for 20 seasons and ending its run in 2010. The show spawned six spinoff shows, some of which are still running today, including Law & Order SVU, which is the longest-running live-action scripted American primetime series, second only to the original. The Emmy-winning original series had a number of rotating lead actors, including Sam Waterston, Jerry Orbach, S. Epatha Merkerson, Steven Hill, and Jesse L. Martin.

Upon cancellation, creator Dick Wolf had tried to find a new home for the show, but was ultimately unable to do so. In September 2021, NBC ordered up the revival of the original Law & Order, marking a 21st season for the show. Although no cast members were named at the time of the announcement, at least one star was quoted as saying he had spoken to Wolf about returning. Anthony Anderson played Internal Affairs Detective Kevin Bernard starting with the 18th season of the show and is one of many who could potentially return to the revival.

Now comes word (via Deadline) that the revival has added its first new lead in the form of Burn Notice alum, Jeffrey Donovan. Donovan’s role has not been named outside of being a lead, but he’ll likely fall into one of the “law” or “order” categories as the show will continue its usual storytelling methodology, following “the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.” It’s also being reported that Anderson is, in fact, being courted to return, as well as original star Sam Waterston, who played Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy in seasons 5 through 20.

Donovan has made a name for himself particularly with USA’s Burn Notice, where he played an ex-CIA operative for seven seasons, then later moved on to appearances in a number of TV projects, including FX’s Fargo and Hulu’s Shut Eye. Donovan has also appeared in a number of features, most recently in Guy Ritchie’s Wrath of Man with Jason Statham. He also played the character of Steve Forsing in both Denis Villeneuve’s Sicario and the sequel, Sicario: Day of the Soldado.

It’s interesting that Wolf was unable to find a home (or even renewed interest at NBC) for the original series, while the spinoffs, particularly SVU, continued to do well, creating a franchise out of the series. Law & Order also launched a number of video games, which featured characters from the show. The classic sound effect featured in the show has become a pop-culture sound effect, which has even been featured in other projects, including the comedy Hall Pass with Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis. With so much interest in the spinoffs and the show in mass syndication, it’s likely that the 21st season with some fresh faces will be a hit amongst fans and perhaps give it the opportunity to catch up to the spinoffs in terms of longevity.

Source: Deadline

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