The “order” half of Law & Order in the fall 2025 TV schedule has been down a detective ever since the milestone 25th season kicked off in September due to the departure of Mehcad Brooks as Jalen Shaw. While Brady and Riley have soldiered on without him, they’ve been short-handed since Jalen was given his "unceremonious" off-screen exit. Now, his replacement is soon to debut, played by none other than Star Trek: Discovery’s David Ajala.
While the official name of Ajala’s character has not yet been released by NBC, he’s joining the squad as Riley’s new partner, just one episode after Riley’s ordeal with his brother. In the episode, called “Guardian,” the detectives will dig into the death of a murdered high school sports star and the people who had been trying to make money off of him.
The promo that aired after the most recent episode on October 30 (available streaming now with a Peacock subscription) included a first look at Ajala in action:
Technically, there’s not a ton to go on from the trailer, but Riley at least seems to suspect that this will be his new partner’s first homicide case, and David Ajala’s character seems appalled that the victim was “just a kid.” It appears that he’s not a jaded cop who has given up on fighting for justice, if him angrily asking “Doesn’t that bother you?!” about somebody lying is any indication. Law & Order also isn’t being subtle about his introduction, with the promo including “DAVID AJALA JOINS THE CAST.”
It’s clear – although not particularly surprising – that Ajala won’t be using his native English accent to play a cop on Law & Order. He did use that accent for his previous series regular gig on Star Trek: Discovery, but Dick Wolf’s Law & Order series tend to focus on cops native to the New York City area. (Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent is an obvious exception.)
David Ajala shared a video of himself suited up for the job on Instagram, complete with an NYPD squad car and sporting the detective’s shield on his belt, set to Lil Wayne’s “Mr. Carter.” Take a look:
In the comment section, fellow Law & Order series regular Odelya Halevi responded with no fewer than four fire emojis, while the show’s official Instagram account posted “Let’s 👏 go 👏.” Despite the shortage of details about David Ajala’s new character, I’m optimistic from what little we’ve seen that he’ll be a solid fit into the precinct with Brady and Riley. Even though his character is a replacement for Mehcad Brooks’ character, I think it’s clear enough that the new detective isn’t just Jalen 2.0.
Plus, after Ajala spent several years as Cleveland Booker in Paramount+’s Star Trek world, it should be fun to see him do a 180 and join the cast of arguably one of the most grounded shows on television. Fresh blood in a show that’s run as long as Law & Order can be a good thing, and I’ll be glad to have a full cast again.
The first episode with Ajala as a detective airs on Thursday, November 13 at 8 p.m. ET after Law & Order (as well as SVU and Organized Crime) takes a week off so that NBC can release Wicked: One Wonderful Night to hype the upcoming premiere of Wicked: For Good in the 2025 movie release schedule.
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