SPOILER ALERT! This story contains details from Thursday’s crossover episodes of Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU on NBC.
Dick Wolf’s two flagship shows on April 17 staged their third crossover since May of 2022 by chronicling the brutal rape and murders (what else?) of several marginalized women in the Big Apple. The two-hour event on NBC also marked the first time that Maura Tierney — who joined L&O this season as Lt. Jessica Brady — was required to kick some actual cop ass. (Her character acknowledges that “it’s been a minute” since she last got physical with a perp).
Here, Tierney looks back on the 24th season so far and explains how the crossover episodes were unexpectedly reminiscent of her days playing Abby Lockhart on ER.
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DEADLINE How’s it been joining Law & Order? How has the pacing felt compared to the other series you’ve done?
MAURA TIERNEY Well, it’s very different because the show is half law, half order. [Laughs] So a lot of times it’s really fast because they’ll pile all of the precinct scenes in one or two days. The pace is very quick on those given days, but then sometimes I won’t work a couple of times a week. So I have more free time than, say, when I was on ER. And the scenes are much more concentrated. The other day I had three interrogations back to back. Or maybe four, I’m not sure. It can be hectic, but it’s fun.
DEADLINE What’s it been like living in this darker world?
TIERNEY Well, it’s quite literally darker. The set is so dark. I think the show looks very cool, but it’s dark in there. It’s also dark because someone dies every week, but I think there’s an excitement to the chase. It’s dark when they have younger people die, but a lot of times the investigations outweigh the tragedy of the loss. That’s really on the guest stars’ back. They have a lot. That’s a hard job.
DEADLINE What feels refreshing about this in comparison to your previous series?
TIERNEY I love working in New York. The Affair started in New York, but the last two seasons we moved to L.A. until the very end. I really like working here. I like working outside in the seasons. The other day we shot in front of Radio City. I don’t like the dark stage as much.
DEADLINE Does L&O always attract a crowd?
TIERNEY It’s very chill. They’ll be like, ‘Hey, what’s up? How you doing?’ They’re very friendly, but nobody stops and stares. They’re very New Yorker. That’s good. Nobody gawks.
DEADLINE In the beginning, did you have a big say in Jessica Brady’s look?
TIERNEY The costume designer is very collaborative, but there’s not so much we can do. Jessica is a lieutenant, so she has a dress accordingly. So I’m usually wearing a suit or a jacket or some version of that, but she has to look professional all the time. We don’t see her at home. I have no idea how that character would dress at home. I did start out wearing sneakers but that did not work out because the guys are so tall. I needed some height on me. I needed some boots to get up there with them.
DEADLINE You have a fun line in the crossover episode where you say you ‘haven’t played that rough in a minute.’ So have we not seen Jessica be all badass in previous episodes?
TIERNEY No, and it was so funny because I have said I want to do stunts. But then I was like, oh, careful what you wish for because I fail. Mariska Hargitay is really good at it. But I was very tentative. We had to beat this guy up and my stunt double was actually my stunt double on ER, which is wild. I saw her and I was like, ‘oh my God, I’m so glad you’re here.’ I was feeling miserable with pretending to kick the guy in the back of the knee and I needed to use my stomach because, I don’t know, I was afraid to hurt another actor. He wasn’t a stunt man. It was fun, but I won’t say I excelled at it.
DEADLINE I can’t believe you needed a stunt double on ER.
TIERNEY Well, my character Abby got beat up sometimes. She got beat up by an abusive husband. We also had to go in front of a green screen once and be dropped from a helicopter.
DEADLINE Brady’s dynamic with Benson was interesting. I started to wonder if we would see these two powerful women clash. How would you describe the differences between Benson and Brady?
TIERNEY Benson has emotions and Brady doesn’t show many. I just think that Benson is a little more empathic than mine. I don’t think it was as much about powerful women clashing. They clash in terms of how they do the police work. They don’t clash over what their goals are. So it wasn’t just two powerful women sniping at each other. It was very balanced in terms of sometimes, a kinder approach works and sometimes, a tougher approach works. The characters were figuring that out throughout those two episodes. Both of us realized they could learn from one another. I wouldn’t be surprised if the crossover happened again. We had a really good time. It was very fun.
DEADLINE You two shared the screen before, right?
TIERNEY It was a similar clash over the best way to get the job done, and my character was more about by any means necessary. Benson was not. So we sort of built on that.
DEADLINE What can we expect from the finale?
TIERNEY The finale is really great. It involves more of Odelya Halevi’s character, Maroun. It’s more about her story. I don’t have as much to do in the finale, but there’s a slight cliffhanger, which the show doesn’t really do. So I think that that’ll be fun for the audience.
DEADLINE And most importantly, you’re coming back, right?
TIERNEY The show hasn’t been officially picked up yet but yes, I will be back if the show comes back.