He is on the case.
Mehcad Brooks, who plays Detective Jalen Shaw “law & Order,” The show is entering its third season, as Season 24 premieres on Thursday. October 3 at 8pm on NBC.
Brooks joined the cast in season 22, when the show returned after a 12-year hiatus.
“I had this childlike reaction,” Brooks, 43, told The Post about his first time joining the show.
“I just fell down a little bit and went on my back and kicked my legs up like a kid and was laughing out loud.”
“It was great, it was a show I grew up watching. It was always on in the house,” he said. “It was something that felt like a staple in our house. So, to get the call that I’m going to be one of the lead detectives in this is a dream come true.”
Detective Jalen Shaw has solved some tough cases – in Season 23, he saved a man who was about to jump off a bridge. The man fatally shot a doctor, sparking a case that raised questions about whether race-based traumatic stress could be used as a defense to murder.
Jalen Shaw was initially partnered with Frank Cosgrove (Jeffrey Donovan), but now his partner is Detective Vincent Riley (Reed Scott, “Veep”).
“I take inspiration from my father, who is a civil rights lawyer and is intent on restorative justice. I think Jalen has that in his DNA,” said Brooks, who is also known for “True Blood” and will join its cast. “Sex and the City” Spinoff “And Just Like That…” For season 3.
He added, “I look at Jalen as another version of myself. I believe in the multiverse. So I guess it’s ‘New York 2’. Jalen lives in New York 2, and if I lived in New York 2 I could easily be Jalen.”
Brooks experienced many “New York moments” on a daily basis during filming.
“Whether it’s the cab driver honking his horn during the take and being like ‘I love you guys!’ And I say ‘Thanks, man – that was a lot of money you wasted!’ Or, the fact that we’re in so many different communities in New York, and we’ll go to a coffee shop, and the barista will look at us, like, ‘How can I help you?’ Then, they look at the badge and say, ‘Wait, wait,’ twice. And then they’re in New York 2 for a second. And they kind of go out.”
Brooks, also known for “Mortal Kombat,” said “Law & Order” season 24 is adjusting to the current TV landscape.
“This is the best season,” he declared.
“We’re maintaining the connective tissue, the DNA of the show. You’ll recognize it as ‘Law & Order’. But it also feels updated, and, if I may say so, advanced. The television landscape has changed and we can benefit from it. Because it used to happen a lot where people were interested in crime and they wanted to know about the crime. “Now people want to know who is solving the crime, what is the price, why do they care, what happened in their past, what is their family like?”
He added that the show could “benefit” from prioritizing “more character-based narratives”.
“You put all these people in the control room of this aircraft carrier called ‘Law and Order’ and it’s our responsibility to turn it 1 degree north. That’s what will keep the show relevant,” he explained.
Regarding who he works with on the show, Brooks said, “The thing is, it’s very interesting because you see in mariska [Hargitay] And you don’t think ‘old timer’, you think ‘all timer’. All timer legend. She brings this youthful enthusiasm and this wonder, this joy in every moment of her life. I have gained a lot just by acting in scenes with him. She’s just been an amazing soundboard to bounce things off of.
Aside from occasionally working with Hargitay, she’s “not really around the rest of the guys who have been there a long time.”
“But we are finding our own way,” he told the Post. “We’re following in great footsteps, but we’re getting stuck in them.”
