NBC has had a good thing going with Dick Wolf's three One Chicago series and the long-running Law & Order: SVU, and now the network can keep that hot streak going for several more years thanks to huge renewal orders. Yes, well before season finale season, NBC handed down multi-year renewals to Wolf's Law & Order: SVU and One Chicago.
Law & Order: SVU, Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med all scored renewals ffor three more seasons. This mega renewal guarantees SVU through Season 24, Chicago Fire through Season 11, Chicago P.D. through Season 10, and Chicago Med through Season 8. NBC isn't done making history with SVU, and maybe One Chicago could set some records of its own if its three shows continue going strong!
The renewals for four of NBC's biggest shows come with famed producer Dick Wolf (who has brought success to the network ever since Law & Order premiered way back in 1990 to launch a shared universe that is still going strong) signing a new five-year deal to remain with Universal Television, which is a division of NBCUniversal. Dick Wolf has been with NBCUniversal for the past 36 years, although he does have a couple shows airing on a rival network.
These renewals are only the latest pieces of good news for fans of Dick Wolf's NBC series. His vast library of series will be available on NBCUniversal's upcoming streaming service Peacock. This library includes the Law & Order and One Chicago franchises, although all of those shows do technically share a universe.
Dick Wolf, who weighed in on why his shows have lasted so long, stated that he's "gratified and excited" about the new five-year deal with NBCUniversal, the agreement bringing Law & Order and One Chicago to Peacock, and the three-year renewals for the four ongoing series. He shared that Wolf Entertainment is "now supercharged." As for NBC, Entertainment Chairman Paul Telegdy said this:
Dick Wolf has proven time and time again that he makes shows audiences love. We are delighted, excited and proud that as part of this epic deal with Wolf Entertainment, NBC’s loyal audience will know that their favorite shows have a certain future for the next three years.
Mariska Hargitay certainly wasn't wrong about Law & Order: SVU not ending any time soon, although the actress did once almost quit SVU. Of course, there are no guarantees that Hargitay will stick around for another three years, but until news breaks about her future on SVU, fans can at least take heart that the renewal means three more years for Christopher Meloni to drop by! And the One Chicago renewals mean that NBC's version of the Windy City won't run out of crises any time too soon.
Of course, the three shows of One Chicago were already likely to be renewed for the 2020-2021 TV season. The shows are almost ridiculously consistent in ratings and viewership, regularly ranking among TV's top seven most-watched dramas and showing serious growth with delayed viewership, especially Chicago P.D. SVU's future was a little less certain, in my book, since its Live+Same day ratings aren't the best and it has already been running for over two decades.
Now that fans don't have to worry about these four Dick Wolf shows getting the axe any time soon, they can shift those worries to the characters that might and might not stick around. Mariska Hargitay would be a huge loss for SVU, since she has been the center of that series as Olivia Benson ever since Elliot Stabler left. Chicago Fire, P.D., and Med arguably all have some characters that would be difficult to lose, but they're far more ensemble dramas than SVU. And people die a lot in One Chicago!
See what happens next on Dick Wolf's dramas with Chicago Med, Fire, and P.D. airing at 8 p.m., 9 p.m., and 10 p.m. on Wednesdays, with Law & Order: SVU airing Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET on NBC.
