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.
Collider Exclusive · Villain Personality Quiz Which Criminal Mastermind Would Be Your Nemesis? Lecter · Joker · Moriarty · Chigurh
Four of the finest criminal minds ever put on screen. One of them would look at you and see something worth their time. Eight questions decide which one comes for you, why they picked you, and what they would want when they arrived.
🍷Lecter
🃏Joker
♟️Moriarty
🪙Chigurh
01
What would a criminal mastermind notice about you first? Great villains choose their opponents carefully. Something about you got their attention.
02
How do they make first contact? The introduction tells you everything about what is coming next.
03
What do you actually believe about right and wrong? Every nemesis is really an argument about the thing you believe most.
04
What finally gets under your skin? Everybody has a pressure point. Finding yours is the whole plan.
05
They have made their move. How do you fight back? This is the part of the film where the audience finds out who you are.
06
What would they use against you? A good villain never brings a weapon you have not already handed them.
07
What do they actually want from you? The money is never the point. Something else always is.
08
How does it end between the two of you? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides who comes for you.
The Case File Is Complete Your Nemesis Is…
Four criminal masterminds. One of them was always going to be yours.
Here is who comes for you, why they picked you out of everyone available, and what they want from
the encounter.
The Silence of the Lambs · Hannibal · 1991–2002
Hannibal Lecter
Your nemesis does not want to beat you. He wants to know you
completely, and he is patient enough to wait for it. The frightening part is how good the
conversation is.
Lecter is the most dangerous kind of opponent: the one who finds you interesting. He
never raises his voice, because he has never needed to.
You keep a great deal to yourself and you are careful about what you show. That reserve
is exactly the door he would knock on.
The films understood something other thrillers missed. The horror is not the violence.
It is being perfectly understood by the wrong person.
He would be unfailingly polite about all of it. That is the worst part.
Batman · The Dark Knight · 1989–2019
The Joker
Your nemesis is not after money, territory or revenge. He is
after a demonstration, and you are the person he has chosen to prove his point on.
The Joker only picks opponents who believe in something. Your decency is not a defence
against him. It is the entire reason he showed up.
He has no plan you can predict and nothing you can take away, which removes every tool
you would normally reach for.
His whole argument is that you are one bad day away from being him, and you would spend
the rest of your life proving him wrong.
He would call it a magic trick. You would call it the worst night of your life.
Sherlock Holmes · The Final Problem · Since 1893
Moriarty
Your nemesis respects you, which sounds flattering until you work
out what it means. He chose you because nobody else was worth his time.
Moriarty is the original criminal mastermind, the template every later one borrows from:
a mind the equal of the hero’s, pointed the wrong way.
You enjoy being the cleverest person in the room. He is counting on exactly that, and he
has already built the room.
This is the rare nemesis who would be genuinely disappointed if you lost badly. He needs
the game to be worth playing.
It ends the way these things always end. Two people, one problem, and only one way down.
No Country for Old Men · 2007
Anton Chigurh
Your nemesis has no personal interest in you whatsoever, and that
is precisely what makes him unsurvivable. You are not a rival. You are a stop on the way.
Chigurh does not negotiate, gloat 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 one problem in the world that has no
interest in how capable you are.
No Country for Old Men rewrote the screen villain by removing the thing audiences
quietly rely on: the sense that talking might work.
Call it. He will wait.
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.
![‘Law & Order’ Officially Reaches the End of an Era Tonight in New Sneak Peek [Exclusive]](https://static0.colliderimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/reid-scott-as-vincent-riley-on-law-and-order.jpg?w=1600&h=900&fit=crop "‘Law & Order’ Officially Reaches the End of an Era Tonight in New Sneak Peek [Exclusive]")
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