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Law & Order
Created by	Dick Wolf
Original work	Law & Order
Owners	Wolf Entertainment NBCUniversal
Films and television
Television series	Law & Order Special Victims Unit Criminal Intent Trial by Jury LA True Crime Organized Crime
Television film(s)	Exiled
Games
Video game(s)	Dead on the Money Double or Nothing Justice Is Served Criminal Intent Legacies
Miscellaneous
Foreign adaptations	Paris enquêtes criminelles Закон и порядок: Отдел оперативных расследований Закон и порядок: Преступный умысел Law & Order: UK Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent
Related TV series	Homicide: Life on the Street New York Undercover Deadline Crime & Punishment Conviction In Plain Sight Chicago Fire Chicago P.D. Chicago Med Chicago Justice FBI FBI: Most Wanted FBI: International CIA

Law & Order is amedia franchise composed of a number of related American television series created byDick Wolf and produced byWolf Entertainment. They were originally broadcast onNBC, and all of them deal with some aspect of the criminal justice system. Together, the original series, its various spin-offs, the TV film, and crossover episodes from other shows constitute over 1,000 hours of programming.

Shared characters and fictional organizations, such asHudson University and theNew York Ledger tabloid newspaper, serve as connecting links between the shows. Many supporting characters, such as district attorneys, psychologists, and medical examiners are also shared among the shows. Occasionally, crossovers of main characters or shared storylines between two of the shows will occur. A few major characters have also left the cast of one show within the franchise only to eventually join another. The music, style, and credits of the shows tend to be similar, with thevoice-over in the opening of every series performed bySteven Zirnkilton.^[1][2] The shows share the iconic "dun, dun" sound effect of a jail cell locking, created, along with the theme songs, byMike Post.^[3] Past episodes of the American series are in syndication with local over-the-air stations, along with cable channels such asUSA Network andBravo (both owned by the franchise's production company,NBCUniversal),Warner Bros Discovery'sTNT,WGN America,E. W. Scripps Company's networkIon Television, andAMC Networks'SundanceTV andWeTV, showing episodes sometimes up to six times a day. Its ubiquity on the NBCUniversal fledgling streaming platformPeacock ("...19zillion reruns...") was noted byThe Wall Street Journal in January 2024.

TheLaw & Order "dun, dun" sound

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In October 2012,Law & Order: Special Victims Unit showrunner/executive producerWarren Leight said of the future of theLaw & Order franchise, "[Dick Wolf and I] sometimes talk in general terms of where (the franchise) could go. I'm curious to see if there's another iteration somewhere down the line", before adding: "We try hard to maintain a certain level of quality which I think is why the shows sustained in reruns so well. And I'd like to believe there's room for another generation in some way."^[4] In February 2015, NBC was purported to have interest in bringing back the flagshipLaw & Order as a limited series.^[5] On September 28, 2021, NBC announced that a 21st season had been ordered.^[6]

Seven television series make up theLaw & Order franchise:Law & Order,Special Victims Unit,Criminal Intent,Trial by Jury,LA,True Crime, andOrganized Crime. All series in total amount to 1,433 episodes across 70 seasons of television.

25 seasons, 535 episodes (September 13, 1990 – May 24, 2010; February 24, 2022 – present)

Law & Order, a crime procedural, features both a police investigation of a crime discovered during thecold open, and a prosecution case set forth by theNew York County District Attorney, at the Manhattan DA's office. The first thirty minutes of an episode typically features a lead detective trio. On May 14, 2010, NBC announced that it was canceling the original series, although various spin-offs would continue. The series finale aired on May 24, 2010.^[7] Wolf briefly attempted to continue the series on cable,^[8][9] but the series "moved into the history books".^[10]

On September 28, 2021, NBC announced that a 21st season had been ordered.^[6] At the start of season 25, the police team consists of Senior Detective Vincent Riley (Reid Scott), and Lieutenant Jessica Brady (Maura Tierney), while the counterparts on the legal side are: Executive Assistant District Attorney Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy), Assistant District Attorney Samantha Maroun (Odelya Halevi) and Manhattan District Attorney Nicolas Baxter (Tony Goldywn)

27 seasons, 585 episodes (September 20, 1999 – present)

SVU follows the cases investigated by NYPD CaptainOlivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and her Manhattan Special Victims Unit colleagues. The show's focus is on detectives who investigate sexually based crimes and crimes against children, the elderly, and the disabled. At the start of season twenty-seven, these detectives included characters Sgt.Odafin Tutuola (Ice-T), Det. Joe Velasco (Octavio Pisano), Det. Terry Bruno (Kevin Kane), Capt. Renee Curry (Aimé Donna Kelly) and Sgt.Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), whilePeter Scanavino co-stars as ADADominick Carisi Jr.

5 seasons, 75 episodes (April 1, 2021 – present)

Organized Crime follows the cases investigated by former SVU detectiveElliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) as part of the task force within the Organized Crime Control Bureau headed by Sergeant Ayanna Bell (Danielle Moné Truitt). The show's focus is on detectives who investigate mobsters and other criminal syndicates. On March 31, 2020, NBC ordered a 13-episode season of a then-untitledSpecial Victims Unit spin-off starringChristopher Meloni as Stabler, now in an NYPD organized crime task force. Meloni had previously starred onSVU from 1999 to 2011.^[11] The show's title was confirmed to beLaw & Order: Organized Crime. Writer Craig Gore was fired from the series in June following backlash from a social media post.^[12] When NBC announced its fall schedule on June 16,Organized Crime was the only new show on the schedule, slotted for Thursdays at 10 p.m. Eastern.^[13] Due to filming stoppages related toCOVID-19, the season was shortened to eight episodes and premiered on April 1, 2021.^[14] At the start of season four, other detectives included characters detective Jet Slootmaekers (Ainsley Seiger) and detective Bobby Reyes (Rick Gonzalez).

ACanadian series based onCriminal Intent was announced in early June 2023. On October 16, 2023, the cast names were announced:Aden Young, as Detective Sergeant Henry Graff,Kathleen Munroe as Detective Sergeant Frankie Bateman,Karen Robinson as Inspector Vivienne Holness,K. C. Collins as Deputy Crown Attorney Theo Forrester,Nicola Correia-Damude as Forensic Pathologist Dr. Lucy Da Silva, andAraya Mengesha as tech expert Mark Yohannes. The series will have Canadian talent both in front of and behind the camera, including the writing and production departments. While the show will be part of theLaw & Order universe, it has yet to be determined whether any crossovers will occur.^[15]

The series first season premiered on February 22, 2024, and concluded on May 16, 2024, comprising 10 episodes.^[16] In June 2024, it was renewed through its third season.^[17]

10 seasons, 195 episodes (September 30, 2001 – June 26, 2011)

Criminal Intent focuses on high-profile cases investigated by the Major Case Squad. Special attention is given to the actions of the criminals pursued, often including scenes from the victim's or perpetrator's lives not involving the police, thereby providing a hint as to the "criminal intent". The detectives depicted (Vincent D'Onofrio andKathryn Erbe for the majority of the series, including the final season) will often attempt to infiltrate the mind of the suspect.Julia Ormond andJay O. Sanders also star in the tenth season of the series. Unique to the franchise, pairs of detectives alternate episodes during seasons 5–8. On July 15, 2011, USA Network co-president Jeff Wachtel confirmedLaw & Order: CI would end with itstenth season.^[18]

1 season, 13 episodes (March 3, 2005 – January 21, 2006)

Trial by Jury, starringBebe Neuwirth,Amy Carlson, andJerry Orbach, followed the preparation by the legal teams, both prosecution and defense, for a jury trial. This was the firstLaw & Order spin-off to be canceled due to low ratings. Orbach's death (which occurred while the show was in production) was another factor in the show's cancellation.

1 season, 22 episodes (September 29, 2010 – July 11, 2011)

Originally titledLaw & Order: Los Angeles,LA was the first AmericanLaw & Order series set outside of New York City. As with theoriginal series, the first half hour of the show focused on thepolice investigation of a crime discovered in thecold open; the second half took place at theLos Angeles County District Attorney's office and focused on the prosecution of the criminal suspect(s). On May 13, 2011,Law & Order: LA was canceled by NBC after only one season, but its final episode didn't air until July 11, 2011.^[19][20][21]

1 season, 8 episodes (September 26 – November 14, 2017)

In April 2016, Wolf and NBC announced they were working onTrue Crime,^[22] a scripted anthology series that will follow one significant true-to-life case per season. Season one, titledLaw & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders^[23] starsEdie Falco asLeslie Abramson,^[24] Gaston Villanueva andGus Halper asLyle and Erik Menendez.^[25] It premiered on September 26, 2017, and concluded its first season on November 14. The series is currently on hiatus.^[26]

In September 2018, NBC announced that it had given an order of 13 episodes for a new installment of the franchise, titledLaw & Order: Hate Crimes, which would be introduced onLaw & Order: SVU.^[27][28] Later, on March 4, 2019, NBC said that the series would be heading back into redevelopment to flesh out the concept and such an introduction onSVU would not take place.^[29] The series was once again touted in 2020 as part of a multi-year contract signed with creator Dick Wolf.^[11] The series would likely move toPeacock due to language concerns as of June 2020.^[30]

NBC had given a straight-to-series order toLaw & Order: For the Defense on May 3, 2021, a new legal drama from creator Wolf that would take a look inside a criminal defense firm. The premise of the ordered series was to put defense attorneys under the microscope, along with the criminal justice system, with every week delivering the promise of a contemporary morality tale.^[31] On May 14, NBC announced that the series would premiere during the2021–22 television season, leading off a trio ofLaw & Order franchise series on Thursdays in the same manner as the network's WednesdayChicago grouping.^[32] On July 15, multiple trade publications reported that NBC and Wolf had mutually agreed to scrap the series, which had not yet cast any roles, and that a differentLaw & Order–related program, later revealed as the revival of the original series, was in the works.^[33][34]

TheLaw & Order franchise has one TV film,Exiled: A Law & Order Movie (1998). Chris Noth reprises his role as Mike Logan, as the film explores what happened to the character following his departure from the original series.

To commemorate the 21st season of SVU, the television special The Paley Center Salutes Law & Order: SVU was ordered and produced to celebrate the record breaking season and endurance and cultural significance of the show.

Another TV special titledThe Paley Center Presents Law & Order: Before They Were Stars premiered on November 12, 2020, preceding the premiere ofSVUseason 22.^[35]

The franchise has branched out to books, with novels written byRobert Vaughan (under the pseudonym, Jack Gregory), J. Madison Davis, and William P. Wood.

• Law & Order: In Deep (1993) by Jack Gregory
• Law & Order: Black Out (1993) by Jack Gregory
• Law & Order: Dead End (1994) by Jack Gregory
• Law & Order: Dead Line (2002) by J. Madison Davis
• Law & Order: Drop Dead (2002) by William P. Wood

The franchise has also spawned a series of video games for the PC, which feature appearances by then-current cast members of the TV series.

The typical course of most of the games follows the original series' format with the player investigating a crime with interviews of witnesses and examination of evidence. After the arrest is made, the player then prosecutes the case with challenges such as selecting appropriate questions for witnesses on the stand, recognizing improper questions to raise objections and selecting the most persuasive arguments for the judge to allow certain evidence in court.

• Law & Order: Dead on the Money
• Law & Order: Double or Nothing
• Law & Order: Justice Is Served
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent
• Law & Order: Legacies

The following table lists all thecrossover stories in theLaw & Order franchise.

The characterJohn Munch, who originated onHomicide: Life on the Street, is notable for either appearing in or being referenced in a wide variety of other series, ranging from appearing in the science fiction seriesThe X-Files, to the sitcomArrested Development, to being referenced by name in the British crime dramaLuther.

New York Undercover (1994–1998)

Co-created by Kevin Arkadie and Dick Wolf,NYU was implicitly a part of the same universe as the franchise, as psychologist and psychiatrist characters fromL&O appeared in the series and there were glimpses of the franchise's fictional newspaper, theNew York Ledger.

Deadline (2000–2001)

Also created by Dick Wolf, featured reporters based at theNew York Ledger.

Conviction (2006)

This series starredStephanie March as Alexandra Cabot,Anson Mount as Jim Steele,Eric Balfour as Brian Peluso,J. August Richards as Billy Desmond,Milena Govich as Jessica Rossi,Julianne Nicholson as Christina Finn, andJordan Bridges as Nick Potter. March reprises her role of Cabot originally fromSVU and is now the Homicide Bureau Chief ADA. Cabot would return toSVU after this show's end. The series features a larger ensemble cast of young ADAs, with no police, therapists or medical examiners in lead roles. After its cancellation, two of the show's actresses,Milena Govich andJulianne Nicholson, went on to star inLaw & Order andLaw & Order: Criminal Intent respectively as Detectives Nina Cassady and Megan Wheeler.

The franchise, as a result of its popularity, has led to the adaptation of scripts from the American series into foreign-produced series. These are:

Paris enquêtes criminelles (Paris Criminal Investigations)

3 seasons, 20 episodes (May 3, 2007 – November 6, 2008)

Paris Criminal Investigations follows the format ofLaw & Order: Criminal Intent, adapted to Paris and the French legal system, with detectives from thePrefecture of PoliceDRPJ and the Ministère public attempting to secure a conviction. The series starsVincent Pérez, Sandrine Rigaux, Jacques Pater, Hélène Godec,Laure Killing, and Audrey Looten. The show is also aired in Germany onZDF, under the titleLaw & Order: Paris.

Закон и Порядок. Отдел оперативных расследований (Law & Order: Division of Field Investigation)

4 seasons, 84 episodes (2007–2011)

Division of Field Investigations follows the format ofLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit, set inMoscow and adapted to the Russian justice system. The series stars Ivan Oganesyan, Alisa Bogart, Dmitry Brusnikin, Alexander Naumov, Valery Troshin, and Xenia Entelis.

Закон и Порядок. Преступный умысел (Law & Order: Criminal Intent)

4 seasons, 84 episodes (2007–2011)

Criminal Intent follows the format ofLaw & Order: Criminal Intent, set in Moscow and is adapted to the Russian Justice System. The series stars Mikhail Homyakov, Igor Lagutin, Elena Kovalchuk and Boris Mironov.

Law & Order: UK

5 series, 53 episodes (February 23, 2009 – June 11, 2014)

UK follows the format of the originalLaw & Order show but adapts it to the new setting of London, with detectives from theMetropolitan PoliceCID and theCrown Prosecution Service attempting to secure a conviction. The series starsBradley Walsh,Jamie Bamber,Harriet Walter,Ben Daniels,Freema Agyeman,Bill Paterson,Paul Nicholls,Dominic Rowan,Georgia Taylor,Peter Davison,Sharon Small,Paterson Joseph, andBen Bailey Smith.

Code of Law

5 seasons, 59 episodes (September 20, 2012 – June 22, 2020)^[40]

An unofficial adaptation byMediacorp Channel 5 follows the format of the originalLaw & Order series, but changes the setting to Singapore in the 2010s, with detectives from the Singapore Police Force and "the best criminal lawyers in town" who "fight to present the best case in court for the Accused". The series stars Sunny Pang and Fauzie Laily as the detectives andKeagan Kang andJoanne Peh^[41] in the legal side.Code of Law also has two spin-off series, a Malay-language series entitledForensik^[42] and an English-language series entitledDerek,^[43] and a spin-off movie entitledDerek: The Movie.^[44] It also had a prequel,The Pupil, which aired for two seasons of 26 episodes between January 7, 2010 and November 8, 2011, and which in turn was based on theLaw & Order spinoff,Conviction.^[45]

Most of the American series have been filmed almost entirely in theNew York City area.^{[citation needed]} The fictional Hudson University is a recurring location across multiple series in the franchise, based on an amalgam ofColumbia University andNew York University,^[46] with some other colleges appearing as additional filming locations. Hudson University has also appeared less frequently in many other television series and movies, and is a fictionalcollege in the DC universe.^[47][48]

The originalLaw & Order series has filmed a few episodes in theLos Angeles area andBaltimore; these episodes or portions of episodes were set in the cities in which they were filmed and concerned multi-jurisdictional investigations or extradition.Law & Order: LA expanded the franchise to a new main city, the new series' namesake.L&O: LA was canceled after one season.^{[citation needed]}

With some frequency, actors have appeared on the various series that make up the franchise, usually as different (sometimes very different) characters. This is because filming occurs in the New York City area and thus draws from the same pool of actors. Some prominent examples of the same actor playing different roles in different episodes are:

• S. Epatha Merkerson playing a maid whose child was killed in a season 1 episode of the originalL&O before joining the cast in season 4 as LieutenantAnita Van Buren and going on to be the second longest-serving cast member of the parent series. Merkerson also plays Sharon Goodwin in theChicago franchise, which has shared numerous crossovers withSVU.
• Camryn Manheim appeared in three episodes of the originalL&O in the first, third, and fourth seasons as three different characters before joining the main cast as Lieutenant Kate Dixon in the series' 21st season after being rebooted in 2022.^[49]
• Diane Neal playing a female rapist in an earlier season ofSpecial Victims Unit before becoming the Assistant District Attorney for that series.
• Annabella Sciorra playing a criminal defense attorney inTrial by Jury and later Det. Carolyn Barek, Det. Mike Logan's (Chris Noth) partner, inCriminal Intent.
• Jerry Orbach playing a defense attorney on the original series before joining it as Det. Lennie Briscoe.
• Ice-T playing a pimp known as Seymour Stockton in the franchise's only film,Exiled: A Law & Order Movie, before taking on the role of Tutuola onSVU.
• Anthony Anderson playing Detective Lucius Blaine in a seventh-season episode ofSVU before playing Bernard on the originalLaw & Order.
• Annie Parisse played an exotic dancer in season 12 before joining the cast asAlexandra Borgia at the start of season 15.
• Jeremy Sisto played a defense attorney in the last episode of season 17 before joining the cast asCyrus Lupo at the start of season 18. Sisto also plays Jubal Valentine in theFBI franchise.
• Kelli Giddish played two different characters onCriminal Intent andSVU before joining the show in season 13 asAmanda Rollins.
• Raúl Esparza played different characters onLaw & Order andCriminal Intent before joiningSVU in its 14th season as Assistant District AttorneyRafael Barba.
• Peter Scanavino played multiple characters inLaw & Order,Criminal Intent,Trial by Jury andSVU before joining the cast in season 16 asDominick Carisi.
• Rick Gonzalez played a burglar in a season 1 episode ofSVU before joiningOrganized Crime in season 3 as Detective Bobby Reyes.
• Tony Goldwyn played Frank Goren in four episodes ofCriminal Intent before joining the cast ofLaw & Order as D.A. Nicholas Baxter.
• Jim Gaffigan, better known for his stand-up comedy routines which sometimes mention life in his family's New York City apartment, has appeared in five episodes of the franchise. In the original series as person of interest George Rozakis (1998, S9E4 "Flight") and murder suspect Larry Johnson (2009, S20E4 "Reality Bites"). In the SVU series he played Oliver Tunney, a kidnapping suspect (2001, S2E15 "Countdown"), and he appeared twice in Criminal Intent, shady crematorium operator Russel Matthews (2002, S2E1 "Dead") and corrupt FDA official Marty Palin (2007, S7E3 "Smile").

Also due to the New York filming, a number of actors appearing in Law & Order shows have had regular or recurring roles on soaps. Most notable isTamara Tunie, who simultaneously played both medical examiner Melinda Warner onSVU as well as (until 2007) District Attorney Jessica Griffin onAs the World Turns. Likewise, New York theater actors have also been frequently cast.

Also as the result of sharing the same pool of New York–based television actors, the series' casts have had significant overlap with that of the formerHBO seriesOz. This is perhaps most pronounced inLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit, whose cast has included three regularly credited actors (Christopher Meloni,BD Wong andDean Winters), as well as two recurring actors (J. K. Simmons andMike Doyle) who were also regularly credited actors onOz, alsoKathryn Erbe fromOz starring inLaw & Order: Criminal Intent. Similarly,Law & Order: UK sees significant overlap with other programs' casts; most prominently series regularsFreema Agyeman andPeter Davison, who starred inDoctor Who ascompanionMartha Jones and theFifth Doctor as well asBradley Walsh who joined the show at the same time asJodie Whittaker theThirteenth Doctor as her companionGraham O'Brien.

Episode count current as of December 2024

• Law & Order franchise – NBC Official siteArchived webpage
• Law & Order – NBC's official website
  • Official L&O Wolf Entertainment Website
  • Law & Order – TNT's reruns website
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – NBC's official website
  • Official SVU Wolf Entertainment Website
  • USA Network's reruns website
• Law & Order: Criminal Intent – USA Network's official website
  • Official CI Wolf Entertainment Website
• Law & Order: Organized Crime – NBC's official website
  • Official OC Wolf Entertainment Website

• Law & Order (franchise)
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• American police procedural television series
• Television shows set in New York City
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