Alicia Witt ("88 Minutes," "Last Holiday") is set to join the cast of the hit drama LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT as it moves to USA Network on Thursday nights for its seventh season, premiering October 4, 2007 at 10:00pm/9 Central, it was announced today by Dick Wolf, creator/executive producer of the show and Jeff Wachtel, USA's executive vice president of original programming. Witt will play Detective Mike Logan's (Chris Noth) new partner, Detective Nola Falacci, and temporarily replaces Julianne Nicholson, who is out on maternity leave. LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT is a Wolf Films production in association with Universal Media Studios and is Dick Wolf's third installment of the "Law & Order" brand, the second-longest running drama series in the history of television. Wolf, Warren Leight, Peter Jankowski and Norberto Barba are executive producers.


"Alicia Witt will add a new dimension to the series as it enters its seventh season," said Wachtel. "We are thrilled that she is joining what is already an exceptional cast and excited about the opportunity to expand our 'Characters Welcome' brand."


LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT takes viewers into the minds of its criminals while following the psychological approaches the Major Case Squad uses to solve the crimes. Along with Detective Logan, (Golden Globe nominated Noth, "The Perfect Man," "Sex and the City") who was exiled to Staten Island after punching a city councilman ten years ago on "Law & Order" (1990-1995), the cast includes Vincent D'Onofrio ("Men in Black") as Detective Goren, an exceptionally bright homicide investigator and his partner Detective Eames (Kathryn Erbe, "Oz"), who brings an independence and stylish edge to her work. Eric Bogosian plays Captain Ross who was rewarded with the Major Case Squad after heading a successful three-year Joint Task Force.