While many television and film productions have now been underway for several months, that doesn't mean that it's been easy going. Several shows have started to film, only to shut down for a few weeks here and there to accommodate those who've tested positive and make sure that everyone is healthy before bringing folks back together again. Now, unfortunately, Law & Order: Organized Crime has had to shutdown before the series premiere, again, over a positive COVID test.
According to Deadline, filming on Christopher Meloni's Law & Order: Organized Crime has now been suspended, after production discovered a positive virus test from a person who is in Zone A. Most productions have special designations for each category of cast and crew members now, so that they're all in certain staff "bubbles" according to their job and who they have to interact with on a regular basis. In this case, Zone A refers to the cast and others who are in direct contact with them during filming.
We don't know right now if the positive test is from someone who's set to appear on screen, but, per the new guidelines for handling positive tests set last year, it is said that contact tracing has begun, so that it can be determined who that individual had direct contact with. The person who tested positive and those who were found to have been in contact with them have already been sent to self-isolate.
It's not clear right now how long filming will need to remain shut down on Law & Order: Organized Crime, but this is the second time just this year that the show has had to stop production, with another positive test being found and shutting things down in early February.
At the time, it was noted that the shutdown wouldn't have any impact on the premiere date of Law & Order: Organized Crime, so we can at least be sure that the highly anticipated show will still debut on April 1, even with this new production stoppage. The person who tested positive early last month was also found in Zone A.
Even though fans are very eager to get a load of the new series, which will feature former Law & Order: SVU lead Christopher Meloni's return as Elliot Stabler after almost a full decade away from the role, the show has hit several bumps on the way to production, and afterward. The show was announced about a year ago, and there had been plans in place to have the end of Season 21 of SVU reintroduce Stabler and some of his family, but those ideas weren't able to come to fruition with last year's production shutdowns.
Once things finally began to roll on Organized Crime, they needed to halt last October when showrunner Matt Olmstead decided to leave his post over some creative differences involved in producing the series. Luckily, though, filming has now been underway for a while, so, this additional shut down might not do too much to disrupt when new episodes can air.
Law & Order: Organized Crime is still on track to debut on April 1, at 10 p.m. on NBC, right after Christopher Meloni brings Stabler back on a new episode of Law & Order: SVU. Hopefully, everyone on set will be back to full health before much longer.
