He’s on the case.
Mehcad Brooks, who plays Detective Jalen Shaw on “Law & Order,” is entering his third season on the show, as Season 24 premieres Thurs. Oct 3 at 8 p.m. on NBC.
Brooks joined the cast in Season 22, when the show returned from its 12-year hiatus.
“I had this childlike reaction,” Brooks, 43, told The Post about first joining the show.
“I just kind of fell down a little bit and went on my back and kicked my legs up like a child and was doing this giddy laugh.”
“It was great, this was a show that I grew up on, myself. It was always on in the house,” he added. “It was something that felt like a staple in our home. So, to get the call that I’m going to be one of the lead detectives on it is a dream come true.”
Detective Jalen Shaw has solved some tough cases – in Season 23, he saved a man about to jump off a bridge. The man had fatally shot a doctor, which ignited a case that raised questions about whether race-based trauma stress could be used as a defense for murder.
Jalen Shaw started out partnered with Frank Cosgrove (Jeffrey Donovan), but now his partner is Detective Vincent Riley (Reid Scott, “Veep”).
“I draw inspiration from my father, who is a civil rights attorney who is hell bent on restorative justice. I think Jalen has that in his DNA,” said Brooks, who is also known for “True Blood,” and will join the cast of the “Sex and the City” spinoff “And Just Like That…” for Season 3.
He continued, “I see Jalen as this other version of me. I believe in the multiverse. So I think this is ‘New York 2.’ Jalen lives in New York 2, and I could easily be Jalen, if I lived in New York 2.”
Brooks has experienced many “New York moments” on a daily basis while filming.
“Whether it’s a cab driver honking his horn during a take and being like ‘I love you guys!’ and I’m like ‘Thanks, man – that was a lot of money you just messed up!’ Or, the fact that we get to be in so many different communities in New York, and we’ll go into a coffee shop, and the barista will take a look at us, like, ‘How can I help you?’ Then, they see the badge and do a double take like, ‘Wait, hold on.’ And then they’re in New York 2 for a second. And they kind of flip out.”
Brooks, who is also known for “Mortal Kombat,” said that “Law & Order” Season 24 is adjusting to fit the current TV landscape.
“This is the best season,” he declared.
“We are keeping the connective tissue, the DNA of the show. You’re gonna recognize it as ‘Law & Order.’ But it also feels updated, and, if I may say, upgraded. The television landscape has changed, and we can benefit from that. Because it used to be enough where people were interested in the crime, and they wanted to know about the crime. Now people want to know, who is solving the crime, what does it cost them, why do they care, what happened in their past, what’s their family like?”
He noted that the preference towards “more character driven narratives” can “benefit” the show.
“You put all these people in this control room of this aircraft carrier called ‘Law & Order’ and it’s our responsibility to turn it 1 degree to the north. That’s what gonna make the show stay relevant,” he explained.
Regarding who he works with on the show, Brooks said, “The thing is, it’s so interesting because you look at Mariska [Hargitay] and you don’t think ‘old timer,’ you think ‘all timer.’ All timer legend. She brings this youthful exuberance to every moment that she’s in, and this wonder, this joy. I have gotten a lot just by acting in scenes with her. She’s been just an amazing soundboard to bounce off things from.”
Aside from occasionally working with Hargitay isn’t “really around the rest of the guys who have been there for a long time.”
“But we’re finding our own way,” he told the Post. “We’re walking in very big footsteps, but we’re stomping in them.”
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