Ernie Hudson Signs on as 'Law & Order' Love Interest

Recently on 'Law & Order' (perhaps the hardest-working show on television), the tough, no-nonsense and recently cancer-stricken Lt. Anita Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson) has revealed that there is a new man in her life, one whose identity she's kept a secret.

Fans have been wondering who this mystery love interest is, and now it's been revealed that Ernie Hudson, fresh from his turn as Captain Lubbock on 'Heroes,' will be playing the role.Recently on 'Law & Order' (perhaps the hardest-working show on television), the tough, no-nonsense and recently cancer-stricken Lt. Anita Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson) has revealed that there is a new man in her life, one whose identity she's kept a secret.

Fans have been wondering who this mystery love interest is, and now it's been revealed that Ernie Hudson, fresh from his turn as Captain Lubbock on 'Heroes,' will be playing the role.

Hudson is certainly no stranger to New York City melodrama, having twice saved the town from total destruction as Winston Zeddemore in the two 'Ghostbusters' movies. He'll make his first appearance on 'Law & Order' on Friday, October 30 -- which is somewhat eerily appropriate, as it's Devil's Night, a holiday Hudson was intimately familiar with in the 1994 action fantasy film 'The Crow.'