Warning: spoilers are ahead for Episode 6 of Law & Order Season 24, called "Time Will Tell." Law & Order continued its Season 24 trend of bringing in guest stars who are well known from other projects, and Stranger Things ' Cara Buono played a mom who may or may not be a murderer. Best known for her role in the Netflix series, she arrived in Season 24 just one day after the episode titles were revealed for Stranger Things Season 5 , set to debut in the 2025 TV premiere schedule .
When I started digging into Buono's long list of credits, I was surprised to see that she has appeared as six different characters from Dick Wolf 's Law & Order franchise over the past 30 years. In the latest episode of Law & Order in the 2024 TV premiere schedule , Cara Buono played Lisa Dumont, the mom of a teen with anxiety who claimed to have murdered the dean of a swanky school who refused to accommodate her daughter's needs due to her status as a scholarship student. While Nolan and others strongly suspected that she was just taking the fall for her daughter, it couldn't be proved that Lisa was perjuring herself.
All in all, it took me a minute to recognize Cara Buono as Lisa Dumont, because I'm so used to seeing the actress wearing the height of '80s fashion – complete with the hair and makeup of the era – with my Netflix subscription . She clearly doesn't need a Demogorgon or nefarious government agents to play a protective mom! She has played plenty of other Law & Order characters beyond.