District Attorney Jack McCoy is back. Sam Waterston , one of the longest-tenured Law & Order cast members, has closed a deal to reprise his beloved character in the upcoming 21st season of Dick Wolf’s venerable crime drama, which premieres Feb. 24 as part of a Law & Order Thursday lineup. This will mark Waterston’s 17th season on the show as DA McCoy.

Like fellow Law & Orde r alum Anthony Anderson, who is reprising his role as Detective Kevin Bernard, I hear Waterston has signed a one-year deal for the revival.

“Very few casting announcements have ever given me this much pleasure,” Wolf said. “Since day one, Sam  has had perfect pitch when it comes to Jack McCoy as a character who both reflects and expands our ability to understand the law. He is the ultimate conscience of the show and I look forward to him emulating the career of New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who served until he was 90. With both  Sam  and Anthony (Anderson) returning, it shows that the 21st season is merely a continuation of where we left off.”

New  Law & Order main cast additions include Jeffrey Donovan, who plays an NYPD detective, Hugh Dancy, who plays an Assistant District Attorney, Camryn Manheim, who portrays Lt. Kate Dixon, and  Odelya Halevi as Assistant District Attorney Samantha Maroun.

The new installment of  Law & Order,  from Wolf and writer-showrunner Rick Eid, will continue the classic bifurcated format and will once again examine “the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.”

Law & Order  is produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group. Wolf, Eid, Arthur W. Forney and Peter Jankowski are executive producers.

Waterston has earned three Emmy nominations for playing Jack McCoy on Law & Order . He soon can be seen in the final season of Netflix’s Grace and Frankie , in which he has been starring opposite Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Martin Sheen. In 2022 Waterson will also be featured in the Hulu limited series The Dropout,  opposite Amanda Seyfried and William H Macy. Waterston, who is Chairman of the Board of ocean conservation NGO Oceana and also serves on the Board of Refugees International, is repped by Keith Addis and Mike Abrams at Industry Entertainment and attorney Bill Sobel of Edelstein Laird and Sobel.