‘Scandal’ Alum George Newbern Heads to ‘Law & Order: SVU’ as Major Character’s Love Interest

Scandal might be over, but George Newbern is still returning to television next season. The actor will be heading to NBC to star in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

Newbern was cast as Dr. Al Pollack, a wealthy doctor who has a past with Kelli Giddish’s Det. Rollins, reports Deadline. The two had a rocky relationship before due to his womanizing ways, but it looks like he is trying to correct his wandering ways.

Newbern starred on Scandal as B613 agent Charlie, appearing in 69 episodes between 2012 and 2018. Outside of Scandal, Newbern is best known for starring as Bryan McKenzie in the 1991 Father of the Bride remake and its 1995 sequel. He also had a recurring role in Friends in 1998 and previously played a doctor on Chicago Hope from 1997 to 1998.

The Little Rock, Arkansas native also voiced Clark Kent and Superman for Justice League, Static Shock and Justice League Unlimited. He also voiced the character in several DC Comics direct-to-video animated films.

The upcoming season of Law & Order: SVU will be the show’s historic 20th season. It ties the mark for the longest-running American primetime drama with Gunsmoke and the original Law & Order. The show is also poised to break that record, since showrunner Michael Chernuchin said he sees no reason for it to ever end.

“I don’t see any reason why this show will end,” Chernuchin told TV Guide in May. “[We’re going to continue] until Mariska [Hargitay] says, ‘let’s end it,’ because we’re dealing with things that are on the front page in the papers every day. Now, more than ever.”

Star Mariska Hargitay, who has played Olivia Benson for 19 seasons already, also recently said she is looking to hit 25 years, thanks to the quality of recent writers and producers.

“This f—ing guy is such a genius, and he listened to everything I said,” Hargitay said about Chernuchin during a panel last month. “Our writers are so brilliant, and they usually have their own ideas. But he said, ‘This is my idea, but what do you want to do?’ I said, ‘I want to go into what it is like for a woman, like myself, who has three children, and that [difficult work-life balance].’ I have three children. Let me tell you something: It costs me every day. Do I quit the show, do I take my kid to school? What do I do? Either way I lose. And only working women understand that.”

NBC is also testing out SVU on a new night this fall. After airing on Wednesdays in recent years, the show is moving to Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET. The show will return with a two-hour premiere on Thursday, Sept. 27 at 9 p.m. ET before moving to its regular timeslot the following week.

Photo credit: ABC/Craig Sjodin