Warning: spoilers ahead for Episode 17 of Law & Order Season 22, called “Bias.”
Law & Order tackled the case of a murdered defense attorney in “Bias,” and the stakes were even higher than usual due to Nolan Price’s involvement as more than just the assistant district attorney. Not only did he find the body of his friend after he was late for their meeting in a park, but he didn’t reveal that he had a romantic history with her until the truth came out when he was on the stand. While Maroun managed to close the case for him and secure the guilty verdict, Price still did what actor Hugh Dancy describes as “a terrible thing.” Read on for his breakdown of “Bias” from an interview with CinemaBlend!
Hugh Dancy spoke with CinemaBlend about Nolan Price in this week’s episode and how the case would get “personal” enough for the character to start bending his own rules. The star hadn’t seen the episode yet when we spoke, but he shared his thoughts on what it was like to play Price on the other side of the witness chair during a trial, saying:
Nolan Price knows better than to do a lot of what he did in this episode, but he crossed lines due to his belief that he was the DA’s best hope for getting justice for Rachel Bender after her murder. It wasn’t until the defense attorney produced proof that Price had been involved with Rachel years ago that it became clear just how biased he was in wanting to try this case. When I noted to the actor that fans would be watching opposing counsel pulling the kinds of legal tricks that Price normally would, Hugh Dancy responded:
Even before the truth came out about Price’s past relationship with the victim, he and Maroun were facing an uphill battle. They were trying to put a judge behind bars for murder, which didn’t exactly put them in the favor of the judge presiding over the case. Price just made it worse when he asked the trial judge to recuse himself when the attorneys met with him in chambers. Hugh Dancy explained how it felt different than the average episode, saying:
The ADAs rarely get the news they’re hoping for if they join the judge in chambers, especially if the meeting is relatively early in the episode. Asking for a recusal pretty much guaranteed that the odds were stacked against them, and there’s no guarantee that they would have gotten their guilty verdict if not for bending the rules a bit.
Maroun clearly wasn’t happy about how they got their verdict despite the two usually having a solid dynamic (with some notable exceptions), and the whole situation revealed much more about Price than Law & Order had given away before. So, did the actor enjoy getting to dig into his character’s backstory more than usual? Hugh Dancy explained:
Interestingly, even though Price is Maroun’s boss, Law & Order had revealed more about Odelya Halevi’s character and backstory than his prior to “Bias.” After this episode, his backstory has been fleshed out a lot more. According to the actor, he was as in the dark about Price’s history as fans were prior to this episode. Dancy said:
Will Law & Order continue to dig into Price’s history in Season 22 and/or beyond (assuming renewal news comes sooner rather than later)? Only time will tell on that front. This is still a procedural show, with the ensemble cast investigating and prosecuting a different case every week. Still, the show has also revisited Maroun’s unresolved feelings about the loss of her sister and Shaw’s struggles with the NYPD after leaving behind a career in law, so it's entirely possible that we’ll get more of Price’s history moving forward.
Find out with new episodes of Law & Order on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC. If you’ve msised any of Season 22 so far or just want to revisit some earlier days of the series, you can find Law & Order available streaming with a Peacock Premium subscription.