NBC's Oldest Series Is Bleeding Out After Its Cancellation Threat

Published Sep 25, 2026, 11:31 AM EDT

Laura Hurley has been writing about the entertainment industry for more than twelve years, after a decade as a content producer and editor at CinemaBlend after writing for WhatCulture and Examiner. Attending events like SCAD TVfest and San Diego Comic-Con over the course of her career, she has been immersed in the world of network, streaming, and cable TV. 

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NBC is the home of some of the longest-running shows on network TV, and Law & Order holds the record as its oldest. More than 35 years have passed since the drama premiered in 1990, and launched what would eventually become a massive TV empire for creator Dick Wolf. That said, the show veered dangerously close to a cancellation that would have cut it from NBC's complete 2026 fall schedule. Law & Order has been running out of steam over the past several years, mostly due to the show frequently resetting itself.

Law & Order has had a complicated run over the decades, since its status as NBC's oldest show doesn't make it NBC's longest-running show. Law & Order: SVU, the phenomenally successful spinoff starring Mariska Hargitay, has been running continuously since 1999, and will reach its 600th episode in season 28 this fall. Law & Order was already cancelled once before. It was originally axed by NBC after season 20 in 2010, and was only revived for season 21 in 2022. At the time, the franchise was already experiencing a renaissance, thanks to Christopher Meloni's Law & Order: Organized Crime joining SVU.

Now, that renaissance has ended with the cancellation of Organized Crime, and NBC took longer to confirm Law & Order than any of its other returning series for the 2026-2027 TV season. Law & Order season 26 wasn't a sure thing until shortly before the season 25 finale. If something doesn't change, SVU could once again become NBC's last Law & Order show standing, and it's all due to the cast resetting on a regular basis.

Law & Order Continues To Lose Characters

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While Law & Order is arguably one of the most successful procedurals in television history, viewers in the 2020s tend to want stronger characters to go along with the standard crimes of the week. SVU is a great example of a procedural that focuses just enough on the characters for viewers to get attached, and a lot of that goes down to the cast sticking around for multiple seasons.

Mariska Hargitay is approaching her 28th season as Olivia Benson, and Ice-T is right behind her with his 27th season as Odafin Tutuola. In fact, the majority of SVU's series regulars have been part of the cast for more than a decade, and fans care about them. In contrast, Law & Order just keeps losing people, and the turnover rate is pretty shocking for a show that has only been back for five seasons so far. Reid Scott is the latest actor who is set to exit, with his final episode expected to air early in the upcoming 26th season.

Actor	Total Number of Revival Seasons	Last Episode
Anthony Anderson	1	Season 21 finale
Jeffrey Donovan	2	Season 22 finale
Sam Waterston	3	Season 23, episode 5
Camryn Manheim	3	Season 23 finale
Mehcad Brooks	3	Season 24 finale
Reid Scott	3 full seasons	Season 26 (TBD)

The Order half of Law & Order has been mostly consistent since the show returned in season 21, since the only cast change was Sam Waterston exiting as DA Jack McCoy and being replaced by Tony Goldwyn as DA Nicholas Baxter. Hugh Dancy and Odelya Halevi have been on board as the drama's main ADAs since season 21. Compared to the legal side of the show, the Law half has been hemorrhaging cast members from year to year. The entire main cast of cops from the first revival season has already been replaced.

Why Law & Order's Unstable Cast Hampers Its Growth

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Law & Order has admittedly done a solid job of replacing characters, with Maura Tierney's Lt. Jessica Brady as a particular standout after replacing Camryn Manhim's Lt. Kate Dixon. Still, it's hard to invest in characters and their relationships when they don't stick around long enough for many juicy storylines. Actors don't need to play a character for 28 seasons to hook fans, like Mariska Hargitay on SVU, but nobody staying on Law & Order for more than three revival seasons has hurt it.

There's a reason why ADA Nolan Price has received the majority of the strong personal storylines, both with regard to his complicated family and his relationship struggles. Even though episodes with personal rather than procedural stakes are relatively few and far between, Price has been the main prosecutor on Law & Order ever since it returned to primetime. Odelya Halevi's ADA Sam Maroun comes in second, and it's all due to the actors remaining in the cast long enough to develop their characters.

The cast of cops has been considerably shakier than the lawyers. Since David Ajala's Det. Theo Walker didn't debut as Mehcad Brooks' replacement until seven episodes into season 25, Law & Order's main detective (after Reid Scott leaves) in season 26 doesn't even have a full season behind him. If not for being paired with SVU on Thursday nights, Law & Order might have come even closer to cancellation by this point thanks to the inconsistent characters.

Even procedurals need familiar faces for more than a season or two, and Law & Order may keep bleeding out if something doesn't change with the cast. Season 26 will premiere on NBC on Thursday, October 8 at 10 p.m. ET, directly after the premiere of Law & Order: SVU season 28.

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  Sam Waterston

  Jack McCoy

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  S. Epatha Merkerson

  Lieutenant Anita Van Buren