Season 25 of Law & Order has delivered some blood-pumping courtroom showdowns, but A.D.A.s Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy) and Samantha Maroun (Odelya Halevi) have their work cut out for them with the thrilling arrival of Cordelia Travers, a new defense attorney played by the one and only Jane Lynch.
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Fresh off her recent guest spot on Happy’s Place, Lynch will appear in Season 25’s “Fate’s Cruel Joke” — airing April 2 on NBC — and fans old and new won’t want to miss the five-time Emmy winner’s Law & Order debut. The logline teases: “After a woman’s body is discovered in a suitcase, Price and Maroun disagree over the charges to bring against the prime suspect. Meanwhile, Riley faces scrutiny when he’s involved in an on-duty car accident.”
From Lynch’s guest appearance to the intense squadroom drama, Law & Order‘s April 2 episode is shaping up to be an adrenaline-fueled must-watch. The NBC nail-biter always brings formidable defense attorneys into the mix, but Season 25’s lineup of powerhouses has been testament to a milestone season.
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As trailers confirm, Lynch’s Law & Order character will be making her way to the courtroom to weigh in on the latest chaos, promising an explosive showdown amid a high-stakes case.
Jane Lynch guest stars as defense attorney Cordelia Travers on Law & Order
The teaser trailer for Law & Order‘s “Fate’s Cruel Joke” delivers just a taste of the action that awaits the 2-7 detectives and lawyers as they tackle what appears to be a straightforward homicide with a clear perpetrator.
“We have our suspect, we have evidence,” Lt. Jessica Brady (Maura Tierney) tells the detectives, all signs pointing to a quick and easy murder trial. Of course, it’s never that simple, as the squad soon learns the bulk of their prosecution relies on inadmissible evidence.
“Unfortunately, it’s not admissible,” Price tells the detectives with dismay.
“Not our problem,” Lynch’s Cordelia Travers quips without missing a beat. Later in the trailer, Cordelia argues to a judge that the prosecution was “grasping” for an argument, putting pressure on Price to sharpen his tactics.
“Let me finish,” Price argues while going toe to toe with the defense attorney, who seems convinced that the incident paints an entirely different picture.
“You have no way of knowing what happened, and that’s a shame,” Cordelia chastises Price, promising some gripping twists and turns ahead for Law & Order viewers.
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Jane Lynch described her Law & Order character as a “shark”
We have a new defense attorney roaming the halls of the Manhattan D.A. Office, and fans won’t want to miss it, especially as Lynch described her Law & Order character as a “shark.”
“I’m a shark,” Lynch revealed in a March 2026 interview with CBR, dishing some juicy details about her Season 25 character, Cordelia Travers. “I’m a shark lawyer, and all of my stuff is with Hugh Dancy, who is a delight and so impressive. What a professional.”
While Lynch remained charmingly humble about her Law & Order performance, she showered praise over her scene partner, Dancy. “He had mountains and mountains of dialogue, and he was perfect in every take. And I was not,” Lynch said. “The bar was high. I got better because I was working with him.”
Don’t miss Lynch’s courtroom debut by watching Law & Order Season 25, Episode 16 on Thursday, April 2 at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and streaming the next day on Peacock.
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