Harmon talks to ET about getting the call from the Dick Wolf franchise and teaming up with Lifetime.
Longtime actress and TV star Angie Harmon has made a career of appearing in a number of original Lifetime projects, including the upcoming Buried in Barstow, but it was her time on the NBC procedural Law & Order that first made her a star.
And 21 years later, Harmon tells ET she’s open to reprising her role as ADA Abbie Carmichael on the series, which was recently revived and renewed for season 22. “I would love it,” she says, revealing that the franchise created by Dick Wolf reached out to her about returning when they were working on season 21. “I was like, ‘Look, guys. I mean, I would love to maybe do an arc or something.”
For three seasons from 1998 to 2001, Harmon played Carmichael opposite Sam Waterston as DA Jack McCoy. During her time on seasons 9 through 11, Carmichael’s conservative views often butted heads with McCoy and other members of the DA team. Also during her run, she appeared in several episodes of the first season of Special Victims Unit before the spinoff found a permanent DA.
“I would love to revisit Abbie. She was just so fun and wonderful,” Harmon continues, adding she “just adores and loves” Waterston and “that whole group.”
The actress then reveals that she also recently spoke to S. Epatha Merkerson, who played Lieutenant Anita Van Buren for 16 seasons. “Just know that was a really, really wonderful time in my life. I mean, what a great time to, you know, begin an acting career,” she says, before joking that Carmichael could be the next DA. “That would be perfect. Just hang on, everybody.”
Until then, fans can watch Harmon in her latest Lifetime movie, Buried in Barstow, in which she plays a former hit woman named Hazel King, whose unexpected pregnancy forced her to leave life on the streets behind. Now an owner of a BBQ diner and a single mother, her past catches up to her when a stranger comes to town and pulls her back in for one more hit.
“The thing that drew me to Buried in Barstow the most was the whole mother caring for her child [and] that sort of primal instinct,” Harmon says of Hazel’s desire to protect her daughter. “It’s something that can’t be forced. It can’t be faked. It’s just something that’s so natural and I think every parent gets it, you know.”
Beyond the fact that Hazel is “a total badass,” for Harmon, “it was her devotion to her child that just really hooked me.”
That said, this character is a long way from the actress’ time on the other side of the law in the NBC series as well as Rizzoli & Isles, on which she played Boston detective Jane Clementine Rizzoli. “I had such a blast paying a bad guy,” she says. “One of the things I love about Hazel and a lot of the characters in the diner is that they’re kind of like the Duttons in Yellowstone. They don’t necessarily make the most moral and ethical choices, but you’re still rooting for them to win.”
Harmon adds, “You still want Hazel to pull it off.”
Speaking of Rizzoli & Isles, Buried in Barstow also stars Harmon’s former co-star, Bruce McGill, as well as Kristoffer Polaha, who previously guest starred on the TNT series. And given that the Lifetime film ends with a cliffhanger, setting up a second installment, it’s any wonder if audiences could see more reunions moving forward.
“We gotta get the band back together,” Harmon says.
“We’ve got to get everybody back in. We’ll get the band back together,” Harmon says, noting how “perfect” it was to have McGill be part of this. “I love him so much as a person/ I respect him so much as an actor and, you know, I kind of called in a favor and I was just like would you please do this and he was just like, ‘Of course, I’ll do anything for you, Angie.’”
Of course, one welcome addition would be Lorraine Bracco, who previously played Jane’s overbearing mother.
“Wouldn’t she be great as one of the characters in the end? And, you know, Barstow’s not this glamorous place,” Harmon says. “I mean, it’s where all these characters go to hide and sort of restart their lives. They’re either really shady or just trying to get back on the good path, which is what Hazel is essentially trying to do and just law low and protect her kid.”
Buried in Barstow premieres Saturday, June 4 at 8 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. CT on Lifetime.
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