Law & Order, Law & Order: Organized Crime Renewed for New Seasons on NBC
Ahead of the season finale for the revived Law & Order, NBC has announced the flagship series and spinoff show Law & Order: Organized Crime have both been renewed. Law & Order will return for season 22 while the Chris Meloni-starring Elliot Stabler series will be back for its third season. Actors Sam Waterston and Anthony Anderson returned to Law & Order, reprising their parts of District Attorney Jack McCoy and Senior Detective Kevin Bernard. Newcomers Jeffrey Donovan, Camryn Manheim, Hugh Dancy and Odelya Halevi, rounded out the cast. It's unclear as of this writing who will return for the show's next batch of episodes.
"The iconic 'Law & Order' brand has long been synonymous with NBC and we couldn't be more excited to bring back all three of these dramas for the 2022-23 season," said Lisa Katz, president of scripted programming for NBCU Entertainment and Streaming, in a statement to Variety. "It's a testament to the brilliance of Dick Wolf's storytelling that audiences remain compelled by these unforgettable characters week after week, year after year."
"Dreams do come true," added Wolf. "The renewals of the entire Wednesday and Thursday night lineups is the ultimate verification of our partnership with NBC and Universal Television. I personally want to thank the talented writers and casts, the producers who keep the trains running on time and the crews who tirelessly turn out outstanding shows despite a degree of difficulty never before experienced due to the pandemic."
The return of the original Law & Order, the first new season in thirteen years, the series was welcomed back by audiences and critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the series' revival earned a 77% approval rating. Meloni's Law & Order: Organized Crime on the otherhand had a more tepid response, being labeled "Rotten" with just a 45% approval rating on the review aggregator.
Law & Order marks just one pillar of Dick Wolf's television empire though. On rival network CBS he has the stable of FBI TV shows (FBI, FBI: Most Wanted, and FBI: International). Earlier this week came a two-season renewal for all three of those shows, carrying them through the 2023-2024 television season. Elsewhere on NBC are the trio of "Chicago" shows from Wolf, Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, and Chicago P.D., all of which were given three season renewals back in 2020. This next season for each will be their final from that order, meaning another multi-year renewal could be in the cards.