NYPD: New Lead Actor Leaving TV Series

A new NYPD detective is getting ready to hand in his badge… TVLine has indeed announced that Jeffrey Donovan will not be in season 23, which is set to begin in a few months on NBC.

The former Burn Notice star has joined the cast of the Dick Wolf series in 2021 for Season 21, playing Detective Frank Cosgrove. The American channel NBC did not want to comment, however, according to a source close to the series, the actor was fired for creative reasons.

So, the character was last seen in the season 22 finale, where he went on an investigation with his partner Shaw (Mehcad Brooks) to stop a waiter who killed a US senator.

At this time we don’t know if his departure will be included in the storylines of season 23, but TVLine revealed that the production was looking for a new actor or actress to replace her.

Jeffrey Donovan isn’t the first actor to leave the NYPD since it returned to television in 2022, more than 10 years after it was canceled.

Anthony Anderson, who took over the role of Kevin Bernard, which he played in the original series, actually left the series at the end of season 21, after only one season. He was replaced by Mehcad Brooks, an actor on Supergirl.

A sudden revival

Canceled in May 2010 after a 20-year run, NYPD returned to NBC in 2022 for 21 seasons, bringing back iconic characters.

In this new season, currently airing every Sunday night on TMC at 9:10 p.m., prosecutor Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) once again walks into a Manhattan courtroom. New York detectives and assistant district attorneys try to solve the toughest cases, some in the field and some in court.

Catch Season 21 of NYPD this Sunday, November 19 at 9:10 PM on TMC.