Law And Order Is Moving On Without One Major Character, And Social Media Has Me Wondering About Their Replacement

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Credit: Virginia Sherwood/NBC

Law & Order is set to hit a major milestone in the fall 2025 TV schedule by accomplishing something that few primetime shows ever do: reaching 25 seasons. While that might seem more impressive if the drama wasn’t paired on Thursday nights with Law & Order: SVU Season 27 with Mariska Hargitay as the leading lady from Day 1, the original Law & Order is a television institution. Unfortunately, it’s also losing a series regular ahead of Season 25, with Mehcad Brooks departing after three seasons as Detective Jalen Shaw. No replacement was announced when news first broke of the Supergirl vet’s exit, and recent social media posts have me wondering what the L&O team has planned.

The first post that had me pondering the full squad on Law & Order was actually an Instagram video shared with SVU, as the casts of both shows celebrated getting back to work. The video even shows Octavio Pisano, who is only returning briefly. Reid Scott and Maura Tierney can both be seen, respectively playing Detective Vince Riley and Lieutenant Jessica Brady. The “Law” half of Law & Order is represented as well, with Tony Golden as DA Baxter and Hugh Dancy as ADA Price, with Odelya Halevi expected to be back as ADA Maroun. But where’s the usual second detective? Take a look:

It’s a fun look behind the scenes at the actors who are clearly having a lot more fun working on the shows than their characters do when investing and prosecuting especially heinous crimes, but Reid Scott seems to be paired with Maura Tierney rather than a replacement partner. The most recent post on X (formerly known as Twitter) also doesn’t point towards a vacancy in the cast:

Now, I wouldn’t necessarily expect Law & Order to spoil a new character via X post if their arrival hasn’t been announced ahead of time, but I also don’t think that there have been signs that Riley will be getting a partner to replace Shaw. Looking back at previous replacements, Maura Tierney was announced as replacing Camryn Manheim months ahead of the Season 24 premiere last year. Reid Scott was announced as filling the vacancy left by Jeffrey Donovan’s Detective Frank Cosgrove a couple of months before Season 23 premiered. If Mehcad Brooks was being replaced as Shaw, it seems likely that we would have heard about it by now.

Filming has clearly been underway for some time now, if Law & Order keeps more or less to the same schedule as SVU. Based on the slate that Mariska Hargitay is holding in the Instagram video, SVU production began on July 24. Surely we would know about a new Law & Order series regular, right?

Well, a seemingly smaller cast could be a sign of Law & Order dealing with the same budget cuts that have affected One Chicago over in the Windy City corner of the Dick Wolf TV universe, and I’m inclined to think that Season 25 will at least start with Brady spending more time in the field alongside Riley. Considering Benson didn’t bench herself despite being captain, it’s not unprecedented in the franchise for the highest-ranking person in the unit to still have their boots on the ground.

So, what does all of this mean? For one, if I’m pausing an Instagram video to zoom in on a slate and figure out the date that a show started production, it probably means that I’m bored with summer hiatus and ready for fall TV shows to come back! In all seriousness, though, I suspect that one change that we’ll see in Law & Order’s milestone 25th season is going to be a smaller cast at least to start.

Find out, when Law & Order Season 25 premieres on Thursday, September 25 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC, ahead of Law & Order: SVU Season 27’s premiere at 9 p.m. ET and the first episode of Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 (which is already available with a Peacock subscription) that will air this fall at 10 p.m. ET.