Actor Sam Waterston is leaving “Law & Order” after 30 years and more than 400 episodes depicting District Attorney Jack McCoy.
The 83-year-old star told “Today” that he’s not broken up about laying the character to rest, saying he knew this day would come.
“I knew I was going to leave when I came back, and it was just a matter of when,” Waterston told the outlet, referring his full-time 2022 return to the series after appearing sporadically in prior years. “This was a beautiful way to go, I have to say,” he continued.
“When they say goodbye to me, the last shot that I did was on the set of the courtroom, and [series creator] Dick Wolf showed up, and everybody gave speeches, and I quoted from Abraham Lincoln going to D.C. at the beginning of the Civil War. And he had been there for 25 years. If 25 years doesn’t matter, nothing matters.”
Waterston originally played Jack McCoy on “Law & Order” from 1994 to 2010, before returning in 2022. He received three Emmy Award nominations in 1997, 1999 and 2000 plus a Golden Globe nomination in 1995.
Showrunners announced that as Waterston leaves, “Scandal” actor Tony Goldwyn will join the cast. Waterston said he’s excited about the update.
“I think he’s going to be great. You know, my reputation is in terrible danger, because I think he’s just going to be wonderful and I’ll be watching. But I think… it’s going to be big trouble. It’ll be what the DA is: demanding,” Waterston said. “A lot of fun to watch.”
The “Law & Order” mainstay said he’s actually looking forward to having more free time. But at the same time, he told “Today” there’s “not a chance” he’s fully retiring from acting. He further said he’s “not worrying about it” and that his wife and manager will find his next role.
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“I can’t tell you how freeing it is,” Waterston said. “It happened the minute I was walking off the set of the courtroom on that last day. Suddenly, there was space in my head that I didn’t even know there was that had been occupied by the job forever.”
“Even during hiatus, even on breaks… It’s a wonderful thing to look at the world through somebody else’s eyes, and that’s what an actor sort of gets to do,” he continued. “But it’s also restricting. Now it’s my own eyes. I like it.”
Waterston joked that he was “drunk on just the freedom” and said his bucket list is “a million miles long.”
