‘Law & Order’ Officially Reaches the End of an Era Tonight in New Sneak Peek [Exclusive]

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Reid Scott sitting next to a window in Law & Order

Published Oct 15, 2026, 4:15 PM EDT

A cinematic obsessive with the filmic palate of a starving raccoon, Rob London will watch pretty much anything once. With a mind like a steel trap, he's an endless fount of movie and TV trivia, borne from a misspent youth of watching monster movies on TV, perusing the sun-faded goods at the local video rental shop, and staining his fingers with ink from the Video Movie Guide. Areas of interest include science fiction, film noir, horror flicks, '70s disaster pictures, Bond movies, '90s action, giant robots, dinosaurs, super heroes, and the exuberantly schlocky output of Cannon Films. He also enjoys both Star Trek and Star Wars when they're good, and maybe even more when they're bad. As a Canadian, he also has a vested interest in Canadian movies and TV shows, especially the cheesier ones dubbed "Canuxploitation."

An expert on Marvel Comics, he has also written for the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, and is a member of the Marvel Research Team. He can frequently be found pontificating on comic-book continuity or bemoaning the misfortunes of the Toronto Maple Leafs on his Twitter account.

Change is a constant for the police officers and attorneys of Law & Order. Since the series began in 1990, the cast has been turned over many times, and now, another change is in the wind. Reid Scott's Detective Vincent Riley will depart the series with tonight's new episode. Collider is proud to exclusively present a sneak peek from that episode, "Into the Mystic," which will premiere tonight at 10 p.m. ET on NBC and stream on Peacock tomorrow.

Riley joined the series in Season 23 in 2024, replacing Jeffrey Donovan's Frank Cosgrove as the series' senior detective. He came in with a checkered past — years earlier, he'd been suspended for six months for punching out a superior officer, and had also lapsed into alcoholism after his father's death. He suffered another black mark on his record during "Fate's Cruel Joke," a season 25 episode: while chasing after a suspect, his squad car hit a pedestrian who later succumbed to his injuries. The death was deemed accidental, but it still weighed on Riley's conscience.

And now, Riley is on his way out. In our sneak peek, he's becoming increasingly frantic as he searches for a mysterious person; we don't know who it is or why Riley needs them. But we do know that it will kick off a mystery that leads to his departure from the series, to be replaced by Rob Calvino (James Badge Dale, The Pacific). "Into the Mystic" will see Riley's partner, Theo Walker (David Ajala), forced off a murder case due to a conflict of interest, as is Executive ADA Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy), leaving Lieutenant Jessica Brady (Maura Tierney) and ADA Samantha Maroun (Odelya Halevi) to pick up the slack. Meanwhile, DA Nicholas Baxter (Tony Goldwyn) is left holding the bag when a prosecution witness suddenly changes their story.

What Else Is Happening in the 'Law & Order' Franchise This Fall?

While Law & Order is preparing for a departure, sister series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is preparing for a reunion. SVU stalwart Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) will be reunited with original partner Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) on an upcoming episode. Meloni starred on the series for its first 12 seasons, then returned to headline the spin-off series Law & Order: Organized Crime, which was recently cancelled after five seasons.

"Into the Mystic," the second episode of Season 26 of Law & Order, will premiere tonight at 10 p.m. ET on NBC. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.

Release Date September 13, 1990

Showrunner Rick Eid

Directors Constantine Makris, Edwin Sherin, Jace Alexander, David Platt, Matthew Penn, Martha Mitchell, Don Scardino, Christopher Misiano, Jean de Segonzac, Michael Pressman, Daniel Sackheim, Alex Chapple, Fred Berner, Fred Gerber, Gloria Muzio, James Frawley, Jim McKay, Vincent Misiano, Michael W. Watkins, Vern Gillum, Alex Hall, Dann Florek, Darnell Martin, David Grossman

Writers René Balcer, Matt Witten, David Slack, Aaron Zelman, David Wilcox, Morgan Gendel, Pamela J. Wechsler, Lynne E. Litt, Marc Guggenheim, Stephanie Sengupta, Scott Gold, Walon Green, Gerry Conway, Sean Jablonski, Nick Santora, Chris Levinson, Christine Roum, Gordon Rayfield, Hall Powell, Keith Eisner, Julie Martin, Gia Gordon, Joe Gannon, Jonathan Collier