The Law & Order franchise has been going strong for three decades, with Law & Order: Special Victims Unit having entered its 23rd season and the Organized Crime spinoff kicking off its sophomore season. However, the flagship NBC show itself has been off the air for 11 years, but that will soon change. For those of you who were fans of Jack McCoy and characters from the OG Law & Order, get excited, because the series is being revived with some original cast members.
NBC has given a straight-to-series order to a revival of the original Law & Order; i.e. the show has been renewed for Season 21. Rick Eid, who’s frequently collaborated with Law & Order creator Dick Wolf, will serve as the showrunner of this upcoming season. According to THR, it’s unclear which cast members from Law & Order’s original’s run are being eyed to return for the revival, but make no mistake, there will be familiar faces alongside whatever new ones are brought in. Here’s what Wolf had to say about the show’s return in an official statement:
There are very few things in life that are literally dreams come true. This is mine.
At this time, it’s unclear how many episodes the revived Law & Order will receive, and it also remains to be seen if it’ll arrive before the 2021-2022 TV season is over or be saved for the 2022-2023 TV season. The original incarnation of the series ran from 1990 to 2010, and at the time of its cancellation, it was tied with Gunsmoke as the longest-running live-action scripted American primetime series in season count (although Gunsmoke still had it beat in episode count). Law & Order: SVU eventually surpassed both of them in that category.
During its original 20-year run, Law & Order collected numerous accolades, including six Emmy wins among many other nominations. While no actor stayed with the series for all 20 seasons, among the most prominent faces over the years were Sam Waterston’s Jack McCoy, Jerry Orbach’s Lennie Briscoe, S. Epatha Merkerson’s Anita Van Buren, Steven Hill's Adam Schiff and Jesse L. Martin’s Ed Green. Dann Florek’s Donald Cragen and Chris Noth’s Mike Logan, who were present in Law & Order’s earliest seasons, also went on to be starring characters in Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, respectively.
The idea of reviving Law & Order was first considered by NBC over six years ago, with Sam Waterston saying around that time that he’d be interested in reprising Jack McCoy. This official straight-to-series order comes several months after NBC decided not to move forward with the For the Defense spinoff, while Hate Crimes is still being developed (possibly for the Peacock streaming service). In addition to his continuing Law & Order franchise work, Dick Wolf also co-created the Chicago franchise for NBC, while over at CBS, he executive produces three FBI shows.
While we wait for more news on what’s in store for the Law & Order revival, find out when SVU and Organized Crime, as well as your other favorite shows, are airing with our 2021 fall TV schedule.
