‘Law & Order’ Casts Maura Tierney as New Lieutenant in Season 24

Meredith Jacobs July 22, 2024, 6:34 pm

Maura Tierney attends Prime Video's — Theo Wargo/Getty Images

Maura Tierney is returning to NBC—and Thursday nights, albeit two hours earlier than ER aired during its 15-season run. (Tierney joined the drama in Season 6 and left in Season 15.)

Tierney has joined Law & Order in the series regular role as the new lieutenant. The casting for this character has been expected, given that Camryn Manheim‘s final episode was the Season 23 finale.

We’ll have to wait to see just what kind of lieutenant Tierney’s character is (as well as anything we learn about her off the clock), but we do know from the show’s history she’ll be interacting mostly with Shaw (Mehcad Brooks) and Riley (Reid Scott)—and we expect her to clash with DA Baxter (Tony Goldwyn)—who took over following Sam Waterson‘s Jack McCoy resigning—and ADAs Price (Hugh Dancy) and Maroun (Odelya Halevi).

It was announced less than a week before the finale that Manheim was exiting. “I thank Camryn for her three wonderful seasons helping us relaunch Law & Order,” creator Dick Wolf said in a statement to Variety at the time. “She is a class act, and I wish her nothing but the best for her next chapter.”

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The Season 23 finale, however, did not write out Manheim’s Lieutenant Kate Dixon. In fact, there has been nothing to suggest how the show could do so, so we expect the Season 24 premiere to explain just that, likely through a conversation between any combination of Shaw, Riley, and Tierney’s character. Instead, the focus was on Baxter and his family when his home life became entangled in the case-of-the-week—and his wife was not at his side during a campaign event to close out the season.

What do you think of Tierney joining Law & Order? Let us know in the comments section, below.

Law & Order, Season 24 Premiere, Thursday, October 3, 8/7c, NBC