Law & Order Reveals What Leads to Jack McCoy's Exit in Sam Waterston's Final Episode

Sam Waterston's final Law & Order episode reveals what leads to the exit of Jack McCoy

By Matthew Aguilar

After over 400 episodes, the time has finally come for Law & Order's beloved District Attorney Jack McCoy to ride off into the sunset. McCoy has been brought to life by Sam Waterston since the actor joined the cast in 1994, and many celebrated the actor's return when the original series was revived in 2022. After several seasons back in the role, Waterston is saying farewell to the role and the franchise, and tonight fans learned what led McCoy to step away. While McCoy revealed he had been thinking about resigning for a while, a corrupt mayor is ultimately what leads to that decision being expedited. Here's how it all went down.

The investigation leads detectives to the mayor's son, who knows details about the subject of their case. That subject has all sorts of friends and connections in high places, including with the mayor, and after several vague warnings, the mayor finally puts all his cards on the table. The mayor tells Nolan that if his son is subpoenaed, he will make use of all of his power to make sure that McCoy isn't re-elected.

Not only that, but the mayor will then bring in a new District Attorney, and the first move of that new administration will be to fire Nolan. He tells Nolan to get a deal done, and that leads to McCoy trying the case himself. Despite the threats, McCoy wins the case and gets a conviction, but he then reveals some news to Nolan after they arrive back in the office.

When Nolan says McCoy still has it, McCoy says, "I'm not so sure about that, but I suppose it doesn't matter. I tendered my resignation 20 minutes ago." Nolan says he can still win the election and to leave it up to the people, but McCoy has been thinking about this for some time.

"I've been thinking about this for a while. It's time. It just is," McCoy said. "Look, the mayor is a vindictive son of a b****. He's going to call in every favor he has to make sure my opponent wins the election, and then he's going to bury every person who wronged him, and that includes you."

Then McCoy reveals the other reason he's resigning. "The governor will be able to appoint someone new, someone with integrity," McCoy says. McCoy lifts up a glass and says, "It's been a hell of a ride." The episode ends with McCoy walking home from the office and passing the courthouse, closing out an era in the franchise.

Waterston called the experience "unbelievable" and like stepping back in time when he returned for the flagship show's revival. "It was totally surreal. Unbelievable," Waterston told Variety regarding stepping back onto the new sound stage. "It's a step back in time. They built the sets in every detail down to the books on the shelves to the linoleum on the floor. You know perfectly well that it wasn't all being done for you, but you can't escape the feeling that you're being given this opportunity to step back in time in your own life."

Law & Order stars Sam Waterston, Hugh Dancy, Camryn Manheim, Odelya Halevi, Mehcad Brooks and Reid Scott. Dick Wolf is the creator and executive producer. Rick Eid, Pamela Wechsler, Alex Hall, Arthur Forney and Peter Jankowski are executive producers.

What did you think of McCoy's final episode? Let us know in the comments, and as always you can talk all things Law & Order with me on Threads @mattaguilarcb!

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