‘Law & Order’: Laila Robins Guest Stars in Luigi Mangione-Inspired Episode — Watch Promo (VIDEO)

Laila Robins is adding another character to her Law & Order franchise count.

As star Tony Goldwyn shared with TV Insider, she’ll be appearing in an upcoming episode. We have confirmed that is the March 20 episode, titled “Folk Hero.” In that episode, when a murder suspect becomes an underground hero, Brady (Maura Tierney) seeks help from a former colleague to track down a culprit who seems to be in multiple locations. Baxter (Goldwyn), Price (Hugh Dancy), and Maroun (Odelya Halevi) disagree on the best way forward when public interest heightens. As the promo, which you can watch above, shows, it’s very much a story ripped from the headlines (specifically, the murder of Brian Thompson, the UnitedHeathcare CEO, and alleged killer Luigi Mangione, who has been lionized by some members of the public).

Robins will play defense attorney Megan Stratton, who throws Price and Maroun off balance with an unusual defense. This will be the fifth character that she has played in the franchise: She appeared in Law & Order in Seasons 6 (as attorney Diana Hawthorne, who worked with and had a relationship with Sam Waterston‘s Jack McCoy) and 9 (as swindler Liann Crosby), SVU in Season 1 (as Ellen Travis, the sister of a victim), and Criminal Intent in Season 1 (as Kit Sternman, the victim’s wife).

“My old friend Laila Robins is in an episode, who’s one of the great New York actors and we’ve known each other for, good lord, like 35 years,” Goldwyn told us.

And it sounds like this episode is the one that Dancy previously teased for us in January: “The episode we’re about to start shooting is, I think, literally all I can say about it is extremely topical and goes right to the heart of the — if it’s a mission statement of being torn from the headlines, it’s that, and that’s true for all the characters. It’s not particularly a Price thing, but it’s a goodie.”

This comes after a tough case for Goldwyn’s Baxter. Due to his personal relationship with the defense attorney, Kate (Maggie Siff), in the March 13 episode, he recused himself. She used some questionable tactics during the trial but her client was still found guilty, and that put a strain on Baxter and Kate’s relationship.

Law & Order, Thursdays, 8/7c, NBC

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