Fans of NBC’s Law & Order franchise are in for a treat this season — Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, and Law & Order: Organized Crime will be joining forces for the series’ first ever crossover event on Sept. 22.
This historic three-hour event will serve as the season premiere for all three series, starting with Organized Crime at 8pm ET and followed by SVU at 9pm ET and Law & Order at 10pm ET, and will also kick off NBC’s 22-23 TV season. In an interview with EW, NBCU head of scripted programming Liza Katz said the event is “a tribute to all the Law & Order fans who’ve been watching this iconic brand for four decades on NBC.” She also described the three-part Law & Order premiere as “such a historic event” for the network.
It’s true: this moment really is history-making for the long-running police procedural franchise. While there have been some character crossovers between SVU and other series (including other NBC shows Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D.) in the past, a television event of this magnitude is unprecedented in the Law & Order universe. Even though Law & Order is entering its 22nd season, SVU its 24th, and Organized Crime its third, the series have never crossed paths in such a big way in the franchise’s decades-long history.
In an interview with TVLine, Law & Order showrunner Rick Eid said that unlike previous crossovers, this one was “structured and produced [on an epic scale]” and instead of simply being a handoff from one show to the next, everything within this crossover is so intertwined that “it’s really one story that involves all the characters from the different shows.” To further emphasize how connected this storyline will be, Deadline reports that there will not be title sequences or credits in between episodes, instead the episodes airing at 9pm and 10pm ET will dive straight back into the story sans the franchise’s famous dun-dun.
