Tony Goldwyn on stepping into Law & Order after Sam Waterston

Law & Order ran for 20 straight seasons on NBC from 1990 to 2010, returned for Season 21 in 2022 and remains on the air. Sam Waterston was introduced as prosecutor Jack McCoy in the 1994 Season 5 premiere, spent 16 years on the original series, returned for the revival and retired in 2024 after more than 400 episodes.

He will guest star on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Jack McCoy. Actor Tony Goldwyn was hired to play Nicholas Baxter, the new Manhattan district attorney. "It felt like a privilege," he told Kerry Washington, adding that Sam was one of his acting heroes.

"I can’t fill Sam’s shoes; that’s impossible. But the character I play is a totally different guy; he’s just in the same job.

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