The "Law & Order" franchise has a long history of proving it can survive a change in leads. But the departure of Skeet Ulrich and two actresses so early in the first season of "Law & Order: Los Angeles" may test how much recasting a show can take so soon.
Ulrich, who plays a detective on the show, will depart to make room for Alfred Molina's character, Deputy District Attorney Ricardo Morales, to return to the police force. It will be revealed that Morales was a detective before he became a prosecutor, and that he's fed up with the rigamorale of getting people convicted instead of just arrested. (But wait, you say: Isn't it usually tough-guy cops in police shows who get fed up with inept prosecutors? Oh well.)
Until now, Molina had alternated with Terrence Howard, who plays Deputy District Attorney Jonah Dekker.
“We have the fortune of two world class actors on LO: LA, and it was frustrating to have one on the bench every week," executive creator and producer Dick Wolf said in a statement. "It would be like having Peyton Manning and Tom Brady as your quarterbacks, playing alternate games.”
Regina Hall and Megan Boone, who also play prosecutors, are also departing.
Wolf has never been afraid to rework his shows to make the "Law & Order" machine move more smoothly — the structure, after all, is the franchise's most enduring star.
"Law & Order" actors famously come and go, and sometimes come again, as in the case of "Law and Order: Criminal Intent." But they don't usually depart a show this fast. Ulrich's character, Det. Rex Winters, will leave after the fourteenth episode.
"LO:LA," a splashier, sunnier version of its New York City-based counterparts, has settled into unremarkable numbers after a strong debut.
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