Reuter's reported late last night that Dennis Farina's replacement on Law & Order will be 29-year-old Oklahoma native Milena Govich, formerly of the recently canceled Dick Wolf lawyer drama Conviction.
The Associated Press revealed yesterday that Dennis Farina, who has portrayed New York Police Detective Joe Fontana on the original Law & Order series for the past two years, is departing the show "to pursue other offers and projects being developed by his production company."
To Rescue Me fans, Govich is known as Danielle/Candy, the brunette who conned poor gullible Lieutenant Kenneth "Lou" Shea (John Scurti) into believing she wanted to begin a new life with him at the end of last season.
To Conviction fans, she's the only female cast member who was reduced to appearing in her underwear in the opening credits of every single episode. Maybe they'll keep her assets better covered on Law & Order.
Even if not, this development is still great news for any viewers who have been waiting for a female detective on the long-running series. Govich certainly proved that she can be stony-faced enough when required on Conviction, often to the point of scariness.
While Govich may not have anything on Mariska Hargitay, Kathryn Erbe, and Annabella Sciorra, the other/first three regular female detectives on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Hargitay) and Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Erbe and Sciorra), in the acting or familiarity departments, the newest addition to the L&O family is definitely making some television history of her own now. Here's hoping she's up to the task.




