‘Law & Order’ Shocker: Mehcad Brooks Exiting Ahead of Season 25
Law & Order is once again losing a detective.
Mehcad Brooks, who has played Detective Jalen Shaw since Season 22, having been introduced in the premiere, will not be returning, Deadline reports. The finale in the spring didn’t even hint at his exit, so the Season 25 premiere will have to explain what happened, likely in a conversation between his now former partner, Vincent Riley (Reid Scott), and the new detective or Lieutenant Jessica Brady (Maura Tierney).
The outlet reports that everyone else will be returning for Law & Order Season 25: Maura Tierney as Lieutenant Jessica Brady, Reid Scott as Detective Vincent Riley, Hugh Dancy as A.D.A. Nolan Price, Odelya Halevi as A.D.A. Samantha Maroun, and Tony Goldwyn as District Attorney Nicholas Baxter. Goldwin and Scott’s contracts had previously only taken them through Season 24.
Brooks’s Shaw won’t be the first character whose onscreen absence will have to be explained via a conversation between the others. Anthony Anderson reprised his role as Detective Kevin Bernard when Law & Order returned for Season 21 in 2022, after over 10 years off-air. He left after one season, and Brooks joined Jeffrey Donovan (Frank Cosgrove). Donovan then exited after Season 22, and it wasn’t until the Season 23 premiere that we learned how Cosgrove was written out. “Great cop, just got jammed up,” Shaw told his new partner, Reid Scott’s Vincent Riley. On? “Being too honest about things people aren’t too honest about these days.”
We knew that Camryn Manheim‘s final episode as Lieutenant Kate Dixon would be the Season 23 finale, but it wasn’t until the Season 24 premiere, in a conversation between Shaw and Riley, that we learned how she was written out (Tierney came in then as the new lieutenant). She joined her son in Miami.
How do you think Mehcad Brooks’ Jalen Shaw will be written out? What are you hoping to see from Riley’s new partner? Let us know in the comments section below.
Law & Order, Season 25, Fall 2025, Thursdays, 8/7c, NBC
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Comments are closed on this story.
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R
Loved him. I wish the two ADAs were replaced. They just don't have what previous ADAs had. Overall the original L&O was so much better.
18
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R
I think Jeffery Donovan should come back….. I think he was excellent!
14
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G
Thats really too bad. I thought he was quite good. Wondering if the new partnership didn’t work out
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R
I'm wondering if Jesse Metcalfe is going to join the cast full-time. I really liked his guest spot this season. Maybe his character becomes a detective? He said in an interview that he hoped to reprise the role in the future.
7
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O
Law & Order has always been a revolving door for actors! The stories are the important parts of the show!
8 1
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O
I loved his character, a loss for the show. He's a great actor, I'm sure other opportunities will come his way. Shoulda got rid of both those DA's instead.
6
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C
Don't like it at all. Y'all making the show not worth looking at!
5
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G
He missed quite a few episodes this past season. I always wondered if he was dissatisfied with the beefed up role for Maura Tierney, versus the limited role Camryn Manheim had as the lieutenant, which probably limited his screen time.
5
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B
That Lieutenant role was always very limited until Maura Tiernrey
4
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R
Why are they getting rid of the only Black character?
5 1
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G
Hmmmmm........
Yeah, what's up with that?
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R
Maroun murdered someone in the finale, and she's not gone?
2 1
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G
I wondered what happened to Mehcad Brooks. I really enjoyed him in that role; he played it with style, manner. and depth. And, it was not even mentioned on the first episode 2025. Though I love the show and watch it without fail THAT I DID NOT LIKE!!!
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O
He was also on "And Just Like That," so I wondered if maybe the two shooting schedules conflicted
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P
Wow, I guess they'll have to shoot yet ANOTHER opening credits sequence with all the cast walking down the hallway. Every time someone leaves they have to redo this. It must be getting tiresome!
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B
Noooo!
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J
This is not a shocker at all. Mehcad Brooks was only in half the episodes towards the end of the season.
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