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

Mehcad Brooks has played all sorts of characters in his acting career, from a bespelled small-town Louisiana man in TRUE BLOOD to mysterious cul-de-sac dweller Matthew Applewhite on DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES to a pro football player in the TV series version of NECESSARY ROUGHNESS to legendary D.C. Comics newspaperman in six seasons of SUPERGIRL to one of Earth’s greatest heroes in the 2021 feature MORTAL KOMBAT.

For the past three seasons, Brooks, originally from Texas, has played NYPD homicide detective Jalen Shaw on NBC’s long-running procedural LAW & ORDER. The series is now in its twenty-fourth season Thursday nights and streaming on Peacock.

When Brooks joined LAW & ORDER, Jalen was the new partner of Detective Frank Cosgrove, played by Jeffrey Donovan. The following season, Frank was gone, and Jalen himself had a new partner, Vincent Riley played by Reid Scott.

At a party thrown by NBC for the Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour, Brooks talks being part of one of TV’s most enduring franchises.

“There’s a legacy and a tradition,” Brooks says of LAW & ORDER, “and there’s also a freedom to bring your own authenticity to it. They make us feel like we are coconspirators, or collaborators. There’s a lot of deference that you have to have for the legacy, but bringing our authentic selves to it is not only welcome, I think that’s what they expect of us.”

Brooks adds that as far as convincingly portraying police work, “You learn as you go, and we have an incredible police consultant on the set, who is with us all the time. We’re just making sure that his buddies don’t call him at home and say, ‘Hey, what the hell are you guys doing?’”

Can Brooks contrast Donovan and Scott and their characters?

“Completely different people, very different actors – not worse or better, just different. Reid Scott and I are like brothers from another mother. I didn’t know that was possible in this career, that you could just meet somebody and go, ‘Where’ve you been, man?’ And so, we’re getting along really well. Reid and I have this bond and, in a way, the relationship between Shaw and Riley is the third member of our partnership. Jeffrey is incredible. I wish him well, I miss him. I consider him more than just an ex-colleague, I consider him a friend, and I’m excited to see what he’s got coming next.”

Mehcad Brooks as Detective Jalen Shaw in LAW & ORDER – Season 24 | ©2025 NBC/Joe Pugliese

As LAW & ORDER normally keeps the police and the lawyers in separate parts of the story, especially the detectives and the head of the District Attorney’s office, now played by Tony Goldwyn, Brooks was pleased when they got to share a sequence. “Part of it goes, ‘Never shall the two worlds collide,’ right? We don’t get to work with the ‘Order’ guys as much, and it’s always a nice change of pace. Tony Goldwyn I’ve been watching for decades, I love him, I think he’s great. So, that was a fun scene.”

Brooks also enjoys working with the show’s many guest stars. “Cory Michael Smith was incredible. He was great. It was like watching a master class. We’ve had some guest stars – we just have such a well of talent in New York, people who want to do this show as a rite of passage. And our guest stars, they work so hard, and it’s a training ground for them, and it’s wonderful to be surrounded by their talent.”

Having played outlaws and law enforcement, does Brooks have a preference for one over the other?

Brooks laughs. “I definitely enjoy character work at both ends of the spectrum, and I’m having the time of my life doing this show, for sure.”

Other projects include this season of HBO’s SEX IN THE CITY sequel comedy, AND JUST LIKE THAT … “We had a great time. Nicole Ari Parker is incredible. I’m playing opposite her, and we’ve been friends for over twenty years, so it’s like coming to work and massaging my comedic roots, satiating that goofball side of myself, which is great. It’s a part of my personality that maybe a lot of people don’t know.”

Also, Brooks reprises his Jax character in MORTAL KOMBAT II, due in theatres in October. As we may surmise from what has come before, is this a big action role? “Yeah, it’s great.”

Mehcad Brooks as Detective Jalen Shaw in LAW & ORDER – Season 24 – “A Price to Pay” | ©2025 NBC/Virginia Sherwood

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

“I’d like people to know that you’re going to get more of what you already love. We also have realized that the fans and the landscape of television have changed. People are really drawn to character work, people are really drawn to the exploration of character. These characters have to feel complete and real and holistic. I think we’re excited to explore not only the procedure and the process of law and order – we have this distinct and bifurcated framework, which gives us less time than other shows to explore character work, but I think we’re going to see a lot more of that, the exploration of Shaw and Riley away from the job, as well.”

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Article: Exclusive Interview: Mehcad Brooks on Season 24 of LAW & ORDER

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