LAW & ORDER - Season 24 Key Art | ©2025 NBCUniversal

LAW & ORDER – Season 24 Key Art | ©2025 NBCUniversal

The venerable NBC procedural LAW & ORDER is now in its twenty-fourth season on NBC on Thursday nights, with episodes thereafter available on the streamer Peacock. (The series was canceled in 2010, but then returned in 2022.)

During those seasons, the cast of regulars playing the police who investigate crime, and the district attorneys, who prosecute the offenders, has rotated often.

Reid Scott is now in his second season on LAW & ORDER as NYPD homicide detective Vincent Riley. Riley is partnered with Detective Jalen Shaw, played by Mehcad Brooks, who came onboard one season earlier.

Scott is himself a native New Yorker, but had relocated to Los Angeles prior to the LAW & ORDER gig. Some of Scott’s better-known roles include Dan Egan on the series VEEP and Dr. Dan Lewis in the VENOM film franchise. His other series regular stints include THE SECRET LIFE OF THE AMERICAN TEENAGER, MY BOYS, THE BIG C, MOTORCITY, TURBO FAST, WHY WOMEN KILL, and THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL.

When NBC/Universal hosts a party for the Television Critics Association (TCA) in Pasadena, Scott makes time for a conversation about LAW & ORDER.

Tony Goldwyn came in to play District Attorney Nicholas Baxter (after Sam Waterston’s long-serving Jack McCoy retired) partway through Scott’s first season on the show, and at the start of this season, Maura Tierney was introduced as Lt. Jessica Brady, Riley’s immediate superior on the squad.

With new cast members coming in, and even Hugh Dancy and Odelya Halevi as, respectively, ADAs Nolan Price and Samantha Maroun only having joined LAW & ORDER in 2022, does Scott see himself as a relatively recent addition, or do all of his colleagues see themselves that way?

“I still feel like the new guy, to be honest. Everyone has been there a little bit longer than me, I guess with the exception of Tony Goldwyn and Maura Tierney. And I kind of like that, because my eyes are still pretty wide about the whole thing. I’m loving every minute of it. But also, because my character is pretty fresh into this world, I still have the opportunity to carve something new out of it, and find something and establish him in a slightly different way, so it’s still exciting.”

Did Scott have an opinion about LAW & ORDER before becoming part of it?

“I was a huge fan of the show coming up, in my twenties. It was the show to be on. Any of the LAW & ORDERs were the pre-eminent New York shows, and I’m from New York, so that was my dream, and it never quite happened for me. I never got cast on any of the shows before I moved to L.A. So, this feels like a homecoming, in a manner of speaking. It’s great to join something that is as strong as a show like this has been for twenty-four seasons, which blows my mind. It’s an honor to be part of it.”

Scott has played other characters who have used guns, but when it comes to research in playing a detective, “I did a fair amount. Over the years, I picked up a lot of it from other movies and other projects, so I felt very comfortable in that world, but we have an amazing on-set detective consultant. Any time I have a question, he’s right there, really keeps us on track, gives it that extra level of authenticity, which I love, because it does so much work for you, when you know you’re at least being true to the world.”

Reid Scott as Detective Vincent Riley in LAW & ORDER - Season 24 - "Greater Good" | ©2025 NBCUniversal/Virginia Sherwood

Reid Scott as Detective Vincent Riley in LAW & ORDER – Season 24 – “Greater Good” | ©2025 NBCUniversal/Virginia Sherwood

Riley came in after the departure of Detective Frank Cosgrove, played by Jeffrey Donovan. While Riley and partner Shaw may have differing opinions on matters involving race and other issues, Cosgrove was old school to the point of being insensitive on occasion. This caused some outright clashes between Cosgrove and Shaw.

Scott opines, “A lot of the conversations about race and racial equality, they come out in the show in myriad ways. I don’t think they audience need to be hammered over the head with it every moment between these guys.

“One of the genius constructs of the show is this bifurcated nature. If you look at the history of the show, the first half of the show is the detectives. And these are guys that you want to spend time with. You don’t want to see them constantly at odds. Even though those issues are big issues, they can come out and be broached in different ways. I see why they experimented in that way, but I think it made that relationship a little too fraught. I think you want these guys – they don’t have to be bosom buddies, but you want to see them having a good working relationship, and I think the audience just gets a lot more joy out of watching these guys challenge each other, for sure, but not be at loggerheads necessarily.”

When Scott came in to audition, did the producers tell him anything about how they envisioned Riley as a character?

“When I came in, what they said to me is, ‘We have some ideas for this guy’s back story, where he comes from, what makes him tick, what his personal life is like.’”

Indeed, we have seen a story arc where Riley had to cope with his beloved but criminal younger brother. “But they also gave me a very wide berth. They said specifically, ‘Here’s our material. If you have ideas, improvise, take it to that next deeper level.’ And that’s been great, because that’s the way that I’ve become accustomed to working over the years from all the comedy stuff I’ve done. So, being given that freedom to just mix it up and play with the material, and to have a partner like Mehcad, who is gifted in being that malleable, and tap-dancing our way through it, it’s been a lot of fun.”

Scott also loves the array of New York stage performers who come on as guest stars. “The show has introduced me to a huge number of young Broadway actors and actresses who I was not familiar with before, but who are just lights-out incredible. I was just blown away by the level of talent that the show has been able to consistently find. Thank God we’re set in New York, because there’s just this as of yet still untapped resource of amazing stage actors.”

And what would Scott most like people to know about this season of LAW & ORDER?

“I think this is the season that we actually get to peel away another layer and dig down deeper in our characters. We’re going to see a lot more of our characters away from work, and learn a lot more about their back stories, which I think is only going to deepen the drama, deepen the tension, heighten the stakes for the rest of the show. So, I think this is a very exciting season for everybody.”

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Article: LAW & ORDER: Actor Reid Scott gives the scoop of Season 24 of the iconic procedural

 


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