New York City isn’t just a backdrop for Law & Order — it’s a living, breathing co-star. For Season 25’s prosecutors and detectives, filming on the city’s streets and waterfronts has become one of the show’s biggest pleasures. Tony Goldwyn, Odelya Halevi, and Hugh Dancy told NBC Insider how the city’s energy, familiar faces, and iconic views make every day on set feel special.

Hugh Dancy — back as A.D.A. Nolan Price — says working in New York is “a great luxury.” The city, he adds, is woven into the show’s DNA: the streets, the sounds, and even the late-night air shape the stories they tell. Odelya Halevi, who plays A.D.A. Samantha Maroun, agrees — the city has become “another character” in the long-running series.

The cast has learned to expect all kinds of reactions while filming. Dancy joked about how New Yorkers are often blasé, having seen the show on the streets for decades. Halevi added that tourists and fans still light up when they stumble upon a shoot — snapping photos and sharing the moment, which the cast appreciates.

Tony Goldwyn, now playing Manhattan District Attorney Nicholas Baxter and also serving as a producer and occasional director, summed it up: “There’s no better city to shoot in than New York.” He recalled a reshoot for the Season 25 premiere that wrapped late on the East River — with downtown Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge lit up — as a perfect example of the city’s cinematic power.

Interestingly, the cast’s day-to-day experience of New York varies depending on whether they’re on the “Law” or the “Order” side of the franchise. Detectives — like Reid Scott’s Detective Vincent Riley — spend long nights shooting crime scenes and sometimes joke that their drives through the city feel like a tour of murder locations. Scott has said late-night shoots give him a special charge: the city at night has an energy that makes those scenes memorable.

By contrast, prosecutors like Dancy spend most of their time in court, arriving after arrests and investigations are already underway — which gives them a very different relationship with the city. Still, each actor says working where they live makes the job more rewarding.