Change is constant for police officers and lawyers Law & Order. Since the beginning of the series in 1990, the cast has been changed many times, and now, another change is in the wind. Reid ScottDetective Vincent Riley will leave the series with a new episode tonight. Collider is proud to present a direct clip from that episode, “Into the Mystic,” which premieres tonight at 10pm ET on NBC and airs tomorrow on Peacock.
Riley joined the series in Season 23 in 2024, instead Jeffrey Donovanand Frank Cosgrove as the series’ chief investigator. He came in with a false history – years earlier, he had been suspended for six months for outing a senior official, and he had also turned to alcoholism after his father’s death. He suffered another black mark on his record during “Fate’s Cruel Joke”, episode of season 25: while chasing after a suspect, his squad car hit a pedestrian who later suffered his injuries. The death was thought to be accidental, but it still weighed on Riley’s conscience.
And now, Riley is on the way out. In our view, he is increasingly wild as he searches for a mysterious man; we don’t know who it is or why Riley needs them. But we know that he will launch a mystery that will remove him from the series, which will be Rob Calvino (James Badge Dale, The Pacific Ocean). “Into the Mystic” will see Riley’s partner, Theo Walker (David Ajala), has dismissed a murder case due to a conflict of interest, as has ADA Chief Nolan Price (Hugh Dansey), leaving Lieutenant Jessica Brady (Maura Tierney) and ADA Samantha Maroun (Odelya Halevi) to raise the slab. Meanwhile, DA Nicholas Baxter (Tony Goldwyn) is left with the bag when the prosecution’s witness suddenly changes their story.
Collider Exclusive · Villain Personality Quiz Who Crime master Would you have the Nemesis? Lecter · Joker · Moriarty · Chigurh
Four of the best criminal minds ever put on screen. One of them would look at you and see something worth their time. Eight questions decide who will come for you, why they chose you, and what they would want when they arrive.
🍷Lecturer
🃏Joker
♟️Moriarty
🪙Chigurh
01
What would a criminal mastermind say about you first? Bad villains choose their opponents carefully. Something about you got their attention.
02
How do they make the first connection? The introduction tells you everything about what’s to come.
03
What do you really believe about right and wrong? Every nemesis is really an argument about what you believe most.
04
What finally gets under your skin? Everyone has a pressure point. Your discovery is the whole plan.
05
They have made the move. How do you fight back? This is the part of the movie where the audience finds out who you are.
06
What would they use against you? A good villain won’t bring in a weapon you haven’t already given them.
07
What do they really want from you? Money is never a factor. There is always something else.
08
How will it end between the two of you? Eight questions in, this is the one that will decide who comes for you.
The case file is complete You have your Nemesis…
Four criminal masters. One of them was always going to be yours. Here’s who’s coming for you, why they chose you out of everyone available, and what they want from the meeting.
The Silence of the Lambs · Hannibal · 1991–2002
Hannibal Lecter
Your nemesis doesn’t want to beat you. He wants to know you completely, and is patient enough to wait for him. The scary part is how good the dialogue is.
Lecter is the most dangerous type of opponent: the one who finds you interesting. He never raised his voice, because he never needed to.
You keep a lot to yourself and you are careful about what you show. That refuge is just the door he would put on.
The films understood something that other thrillers missed. Violence is not the horror. It is perfectly understood by the wrong person.
He would be polite of course about all that. That’s the worst part.
Batman · The Dark Knight · 1989–2019
The Joker
Your nemesis is not after money, landor revenge. He’s after a show, and you’re the person he’s chosen to prove his point.
The Joker only chooses opponents who believe in something. Your kindness is no protection against him. This is the whole reason he appeared.
It doesn’t have a plan that you can predict and you can’t remove anything, which removes all the tools you would normally reach for.
His whole argument is that you’re one bad day away from being a person, and you’d spend the rest of your life proving it wrong.
He called it a magic trick. You would call it the worst night of your life.
Sherlock Holmes · The Final Problem · From 1893
Moriarty
Your nemesis respects you, which sounds flattering until you figure out what it means. He chose you because no one else was worth his time.
Moriarty is the original criminal mind, the template that everyone later borrows from: a mind that is the same as the hero’s mind, pointing out the wrong way.
You like to be the smartest person in the room. He is counting on that, and he has already built the room.
This is the rare nemesis that would be extremely disappointing if you lost badly. He has to play the game to deserve it.
It ends the way these things always end. Two, one problem, and only one way down.
No Country for Old Men · 2007
Anton Chigurh
Your nemesis has no personal interest in you, and that is exactly what makes him unstoppable. You are not a competitor. You are a stop on the way.
Chigure does not negotiate, shout or explain. He arrives, he asks one question, and the answer was decided long before you opened your mouth.
You trust yourself to handle things. He is the only problem in the world that is not interested in your potential.
No Country for Old Men rewrote the screen villain by taking away what audiences silently rely on: the sense that talking could work.
Call it. He will stay.
What else is happening in the ‘Law & Order’ franchise this fall?
While Law & Order preparing to depart, sister series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit preparing for a reunion. Olivia Benson, SVU supporter (Mariska Hargitay) to reunite with original partner Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) on an upcoming episode. Meloni starred in the series for its first 12 seasons, then returned to lead the rest of the series. Law & Order: Organized Crimewhich was recently canceled after five seasons.
“Into the Mystic,” the second episode of season 26 of Law & Orderwill be premieres tonight at 10pm ET on NBC. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
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