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…
