Dylan McDermott Joins Christopher Meloni in 'Law & Order: Organized Crime'
He’s back! In March 2020, NBC revealed that Christopher Meloni will be returning as Elliot Stabler — his role on the iconic Law & Order: Special Victims Unit — for a new spinoff series.
The procedural, titled Law & Order: Organized Crime, marks Meloni’s first time playing the character since he exited the show in 2011 at the end of season 12. Dick Wolf is set to produce. Former Chicago P.D. showrunner Matt Olmstead was originally announced as the showrunner, but has since stepped down.
The Oz actor starred on SVU alongside Mariska Hargitay from its 1999 debut. When Meloni decided to exit the procedural, Stabler was written off the show; the character retired from the force.
“I left with zero animosity, but I did leave clearly and open-eyed in going forward and finding new adventures. I was like, ‘That’s what I want to do, keep moving forward,'” Meloni told The New York Post in July. “I had done the Law & Order way of storytelling, which they do really well, and I was interested in telling stories from a different angle — whether comedic or inhabiting a new world or doing it on different platforms.”
As for his return, SVU showrunner Warren Leight revealed that once they heard about Meloni returning, they made a plan to “lay a little groundwork” on SVU.
“We were going to see Kathy Stabler come back very upset. Her son had been rolled by a team of ne’er-do-wells and may have been drugged, and we were going to revisit Simon’s seeming overdose and we were going to get to know the stresses on the Stabler—what had happened to the Stabler family after Elliot both left SVU and apparently left them,” he shared on the “Law & Order Podcast” in March. “We were just going to lay some groundwork down in anticipation of Elliot’s return of course in his own series. We had the sense that the first episode of next year for SVU was going to bring Elliot back, so we were going to foreshadow that and explain a little more what happened to Simon.”
Scroll through the gallery below for all the details on the SVU spinoff.
Elliot "returns to the NYPD to battle organized crime after a devastating personal loss," according to the official logline, released by NBC."However, the city and police department have changed dramatically in the decade he's been away, and he must adapt to a criminal justice system in the midst of its own moment of reckoning. Stabler will aim to find absolution and rebuild his life while leading an elite new task force that is taking apart the city's most powerful crime syndicates one by one."
The former Happy! actor added a bit more color to what to expect during an appearance on The Talk in July.
"There are a lot of unanswered questions about how he left, why the silence vis-à-vis Olivia Benson," he said at the time. "I think, in real terms, society, and what we are dealing with in society, has changed dramatically. So, I think you have to address that. And, I think the person Elliot was, I think we all evolve. I think all those things are going to be put into play."
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Law & Order: Organized Crime was originally slated for a fall 2020 premiere, but was pushed to 2021.
Tv/Kobal/Shutterstock
While supporting cast has yet to be revealed, Hargitay will appear on the spinoff, Meloni told The Talk hosts. "How much? I don't know, because I hear she has her own day job," he laughed. "I think whatever we can slice away, whatever the writers come up with. I think we will both be looking forward to playing with each other in each other's sandbox."
Chris Haston/NBC
Leight noted during his interview in March that it's "pretty clear" Meloni will appear on the season 22 premiere of SVU.
"Whether we get to see his family as well remains to be seen," he noted. "It's not just about the SVU season opener, it's how do we help launch the new series and how much crossover will there be between Elliot and Olivia as the season goes on."
Courtesy of Christopher Meloni/Instagram
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