WIlliamson is the latest foe on season 2 of the 'Law & Order' spinoff centered around Elliot Stabler (Chris Meloni).
After first being introduced as Preston Webb at the beginning of Law & Order: Organized Crime season 2, Mykelti Williamson has had to wait until episode 15, “Takeover,” for his character to take center stage. Following the unit’s investigations into Richard Wheatley (Dylan McDermott) and Jon Kosta (Michael Raymond-James), the leader of the Marcy Killers is now the latest crime boss to be targeted by Sgt. Aryanna Bell’s (Danielle Moné Truitt) team.
As the Law & Order spinoff centered around Elliot Stabler’s (Christopher Meloni) return to the NYPD shifts focus to Webb, the actor, best known for Forrest Gump and Ali before his recurring role on Chicago P.D. introduced him to creator Dick Wolf’s TV universe, talks to ET about what’s in store for the next few episodes. And after getting a glimpse into the operations of his organization, his family life, his longtime friendship with Congressman Leon Kilbride (Ron Cephas Jones) as well as his shaky alliance with the Brotherhood led by Det. Frank Donnelly (Denis Leary), it’s clear there’s a lot at stake for the leader.
Described by Williamson as a survivor with a lot of hurt in his life, “Preston is temporarily willing to do whatever it takes to build this empire so that he can start affecting the world in a great way,” he says. “But right now, he’s doing the gangster approach.” And that includes becoming a contract killer, drug trafficker and crime lord, all in the hopes that he can turn that money into good things for his community. “They’re trying to find balance. They want to get out of this world at some point,” the actor adds, referring to Webb and his wife, Cassandra, played by Jennifer Beals.
As “Takeover” showed, Webb is a man of many relationships, alliances and connections, which extends from his wife to politicians to dirty cops, and everything in between. When it comes to Cassandra, whom Beals described as a Lady Macbeth with good intentions, Williamson says, “There’s one thing Preston knows about his wife, is that she is beautiful as she is dangerous.”
Introduced in the same episode, the art gallery owner was first seen hosting a fundraising event before it became clear that she was in the know about Webb’s organization. “They understand empire building and in the very same way,” Williamson says, before noting, “This is one of the most dangerous women Preston Webb has ever met in his life, and he loves her. And he’s the most dangerous thing she has ever seen.”
There’s a mutual respect between the couple that Webb seems to only also extend to Kilbride, a corrupt politician who has connections to all the city’s crime rings. “These guys grew up together and now, they’re both extremely powerful men who need one another,” Williamson says, teasing a dynamic back-and-forth that will play out between the two. “You’ll see a chess match between Ron Cephas’ character and my character. And then you’ll see what a puppeteer my character really is.”
Another person audiences will see Webb facing off with is Donnelly, who is currently being investigated by Stabler, who has gone undercover as himself following a fake suspension from the unit for running a secret gang of corrupt cops. “He plays another dangerous man with a different kind of power,” Williamson says of Leary. “These two men both have a different kind of power, but power that will get you killed nonetheless.”
But whatever alliance exists between the Marcy Killers and the Brotherhood is now on shaky ground after one of the cops stole some of the drug money during an investigation into a deal gone bad. After a standoff in “Takeover,” the two organizations seem ready to go to war. “Leary and I, we’re going to be seeing each other this week for some scenes that the audience should really be concerned about,” Williamson teases of tonight’s episode, “Guns & Roses.”
What happened in “Takeover,” from the standoff between the two groups to the way Webb ruthlessly reorganized his drug operations, is evidence of the consequences to come if someone crosses the leader. “This is a man who has boundaries and the audience will discover what his boundaries are,” Williamson teases, before asking, “What is that switch?”
Unbeknownst to him, his newly appointed vice president, Nova, is really an undercover cop named Carmen Riley (Nona Parker Johnson) working with Bell. With Riley and Bell’s investigation into Webb and Stabler’s investigation into Donnelly likely to come to a head at some point, it seems like only a matter of time before the leader of the Marcy Killers catches on.
While Williamson didn’t directly address the investigation into Webb or what exactly will set him off in episodes to come, he did tease that “you’ll get to see what this man’s switch is in upcoming weeks.”
“What Preston Webb is is he’s everything that it’s necessary to be to bring all the good to the world he can possibly bring, even if he has to do so violently or with violence,” Williamson says.
Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Organized Crime air Thursdays on NBC starting at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
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