Cast and Crew Changes
Jesse L. Martin returned to his role of Detective Ed Green in the season premiere episode, he left at the end of last season to film in the movie Rent. Mid-season, Law & Order's future on NBC was in the air, unknown if the show would be renewed or canceled after this season. Prior to the end of the season, Annie Parisse who portrayed ADA Borgia, quit the series, wanting out out of her contract. A show insider said to Fox News, "She saw the writing on the wall, they never treated her very well. They were always complaining about her hair. And they also thought she looked too young next to Sam Waterson (sic)." Pariesse's ADA Alex Borgia was brutally killed off in the season finale episode "Invaders".
It was announced that Dennis Farina (Detective Joe Fontana) wished to depart the cast weeks after the season finale episode aired. At the time Farina wished to pursue other offers and projects being developed by his production company. Dick Wolf said in a statement that he respected Farina's decision and looked forward to working with him again.
There were "a lot" of firings, including a portion of the camera crew. "None of the original writer-producers are there anymore," a source said to FOX News. "They've all been replaced by people from L.A. who don't get the show." People also had issues with Dennis Farina coming in to replace Jerry Orbach in the previous season. Walon Green was show runner/executive producer this season with Nicholas Wootton, over Matthew Penn, and Peter Jankowski. Green stepped down as show runner/EP at the end of the season and Wootton took over in the 17th season.
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