Law And Order Brought Back A Former Star Nearly 20 Years Later, But As A Totally Different Character This Time

Spoilers ahead for Episode 13 of Law & Order Season 24, called "In God We Trust" and streaming next day with a Peacock subscription.

After Law & Order showcased Odelya Halevi as ADA Sam Maroun in the previous episode, the latest installment of the 2025 TV schedule started with the murder of a young lawyer and then twisted and turned until two young people from a conservative Christian community were at the center of a trial. The killer ultimately was convicted after a plea deal, after some back and forth between Nolan and Baxter about pursuing a murder charge.

But what really caught my eye was the woman playing the defense attorney. Attorney Patricia Kaplan was a brand new character to the NBC drama, but the actress playing her was not: former Law & Order star Selenis Leyva.

Viewers who tune into NBC in recent years rather than a couple decades ago might recognize Levya more from her role in sitcom Lopez vs. Lopez, but longtime Law & Order fans may know her better as Detective Mariluz Rivera. Leyva recurred as the character between early Season 15 in 2004 and mid-Season 17 in 2006 for a total of 18 episodes.

While it's not unusual for actors to play more than one character in the Law & Order franchise, shows don't often bring back former recurring stars as new characters. (Mike Doyle as Law & Order: SVU's O'Halloran playing a different character on Law & Order is a notable recent exception.) That said, this technically isn't Selenis Leyva's first time back in the franchise since playing Detective Rivera; the cop was just her big recurring role.

Leyva also played a character by the name of Rona Henderson in Season 20 in 2010, which was Law & Order's last season before being cancelled and then revived in 2022. So, "In God We Trust" wasn't the first time since her run as Rivera that the actress played a different character.

In fact, Selenis Leyva has been all over the franchise going back to 1999. She played three different Law & Order characters before Rivera, meaning that Patricia Kaplan was her sixth character on just the original show. And that's not all! She played two characters on Law & Order: SVU, with the first in Season 1 and the second in Season 20. She also has three credits on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, as different characters in Season 1 and Season 5 before appearing in Season 10 as Detective Rivera.

Will her latest character return to Law & Order? Well, Nolan and Maroun always need a defense attorney to go up against in their prosecutions, so I'm not going to rule anything out. Besides, the nine-show Dick Wolf TV universe is a wide world, so we probably also shouldn't rule out seeing her in a new role. Maybe Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 so she can hit the trifecta of current L&O shows?

In all seriousness, you can check out Selenis Leyva's seasons of the drama as Detective Rivera streaming on Peacock, and I for one certainly wouldn't mind seeing her back as a defense attorney as Season 24 continues. Don't forget to check out new episodes of Law & Order on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.