As Tony Goldwyn marks one year as District Attorney Nicholas Baxter on “Law & Order,” it’s fitting that he would field a question about the top job from one of his former co-stars.
On March 6, Kerry Washington, whom Goldwyn starred alongside for seven seasons on “Scandal,” posted an inquisitive-looking selfie as well as a video of her appearance as an eyewitness in a 2001 episode of “Law & Order.” In the clip, her character is interrogated by Jack McCoy, who was the executive ADA-turned-DA portrayed by Sam Waterston for years until his departure from the series in February 2024.
“24 years ago, my @nbclawandorder moment #TBT,” Washington began her caption on Instagram.
She then posed a question about Goldwyn: “Wonder what would have happened if it was @tonygoldwyn grilling Allie instead of #SamWaterson😂😂😂 #LawAndOrder.”
“I can’t keep up with Kerry’s social media,” Goldwyn, laughing, tells TODAY.com during an interview March 10. “I talked to her yesterday, and she didn’t tell me.”
Goldwyn reads Washington’s question aloud and says, “OK, that is pretty good. I’ve got to look at this one. I’ll have to respond to this.”
“That’s really funny,” he adds, before playing the clip Washington shared of her “L&O” character.
“Look at young Kerry! She’s so cute,” he says.
“I would definitely not have been as nice as Sam,” he adds.
Goldwyn also left a comment on Washington’s post March 10.
“I would have been a lot tougher on you than Sam was!” he said, with crying laughing and heart emoji.
Goldwyn previously told TODAY.com if Washington guest-starred on the NBC prime-time drama that she would play a villain.
“I will be thrilled if Kerry visited us to play any role whatsoever,” he says today.
As for this week’s episode of “Law & Order,” “Crossing Lines,” it’s a big one for Goldwyn’s character. Baxter recuses himself from the case since he’s dating the defense attorney, Kate, who’s played by Maggie Siff.
Siff and Goldwyn previously worked together on a podcast about Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter called “Crowded Hours.”
Goldwyn says he was “excited” to collaborate with her again and is now “very spoiled” because he gets to work with “the best actors in New York” on “Law & Order.”
“She’s so good in this episode, and we had a great kind of chemistry,” he explains. “So it’s nice.”
Goldwyn says incorporating the characters’ personal lives into Season 24 and learning more about them “makes it more interesting to play and explore.”
“I thought what was particularly skillful about this episode was it was very much integrated into the story of the case, as opposed to something that would just be sort of tacked on as a moment with Baxter outside of work, which is less interesting,” he says.
“This I thought was really cool because the case impacts the relationship in a really great way, I thought,” he adds.
Goldwyn praises the “really excellent” episode which has “a lot of dimension to it,” in addition to a “really interesting” case.
“I think people can be excited,” he teases.
“Law & Order” airs Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and streams the following day on Peacock.
