If you’ve been missing Richard Wheatley (Dylan McDermott) on Law & Order: Organized Crime after only briefly seeing him in the Season 2 premiere, there’s good news: You can start counting down the days to his return.
McDermott has been teasing his next appearance on Twitter since October 20, writing, “I hope @Chris_Meloni is doing some extra push ups. Because I’m on my way…” Then, on November 3, he shared a photo of himself on set of the NBC drama in a prison cell with “Richard Wheatley returns Dec 9! Are you ready for mayhem?” (Check it out below.) And he promised: “It will be worth the wait.”
That tracks with when part 1 of Season 2 will be over: Each part is eight episodes, and the season’s seventh episode airs November 4.
Richard appeared at the beginning of the Season 2 premiere. He’d been cooperating with the feds, and as a result, the charges of money laundering, embezzlement, drug trafficking, and assault were dismissed. He said he wanted to do more good than anyone ever imagined he could (really?) and to make himself the worst enemy of every criminal organization on Earth (we buy that). But he wasn’t exactly free yet: He returned to Rikers to await trial for the outstanding murder charge.
Richard Wheatley returns Dec 9! Are you ready for mayhem?@lawandordertv pic.twitter.com/8hlOINAm25
— Dylan McDermott (@DylanMcDermott) November 3, 2021
Speaking of that upcoming trial, his ex-wife Angela (Tamara Taylor) is supposed to testify. But while she survived the hit he put out on her, she was still recovering from the poisoning in the premiere. She’d made some progress (like walking three blocks), but her memory may not be all there, given her reaction when Sergeant Ayanna Bell (Danielle Moné Truitt) asked if she’d be OK to speak in court.
Whatever brings Richard back on-screen and whatever he’ll be up to, something tells us that Detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) will need to start looking over his shoulder.
Law & Order: Organized Crime, Thursdays, 10/9c, NBC
