Sam Waterston is gearing up to leave "Law & Order" after starring on the show for 30 years.
Speaking with Today, the 83-year-old Waterston said he's feeling "fine" about the end of his long-running character on the NBC show, District Attorney Jack McCoy.
"I knew I was going to leave when I came back, and it was just a matter of when," he said ("Law & Order" returned to TV in 2022 after an initial end in 2010). "This was a beautiful way to go I have to say."
Waterston told the program he has no future plans to reprise the role after his final episode on Feb. 22 airs.
"When they say goodbye to me, the last shot that I did was on the set of the courtroom, and [creator] Dick Wolf showed up, and everybody gave speeches, and I quoted Abraham Lincoln going to D.C. at the beginning of the Civil War. That had been there for 25 years. If 25 years doesn't matter, nothing matters," he said.
Waterston explained he has no plans of halting his acting career. He mentioned his manager and "fabulous wife" will be in charge of finding his next job.
He revealed he's loving not having the constraints of starring on a weekly series, joking he's "drunk on just the freedom," and now has a bucket list that's "a million miles long."
Waterston starred as Jack McCoy in more than 400 episodes of "Law & Order."