John Oliver may have recently dragged Dick Wolf’s Law & Order shows for their unrealistically swift portrayals of justice, but that sure hasn’t stopped viewers from tuning into the franchise’s current three shows on the NBC airwaves. Law & Order: SVU leads the way with a total of 24 seasons (and more to come with both Mariska Hargitay and Ice-T) under its belt, and the original series is not too far behind after its recent revival. Then there’s Law and Order: Organized Crime, which has been cranking through its third season with plenty of Chris Meloni yet not enough octopus to go around.
All three shows have now officially been renewed for even more neatly tied-up yet vital stories on NBC. As Variety reports, 22 new episodes of both Law & Order and SVU are on the way with 13 more for Organized Crime. This isn’t surprising news, of course. This franchise has been the network’s prime-time bread and butter for decades, and Dick Wolf must see no reason to ever end this journey. Hargitay shared a statement with Variety:
“All of us at ‘SVU’ feel honored to be able to continue telling these essential stories… While we have seen significant changes in our culture, injustice persists and too many voices still go unheard. That cause is as much mine as it is Olivia Benson’s, and I gather strength from knowing that the longest-running drama series on television is one that elevates women’s stories, and the stories of those in our society who have been marginalized and harmed. To know that I get to be a part of someone’s experience of feeling less alone, less isolated, more in community, more connected, that is the true privilege and gift.”
Make no mistake, Hargitay walks the walk. She launched the Joyful Heart Foundation, which is designed to help society change the conversation around sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse. She has also made a series of PSAs aimed towards raising awareness of the backlog in rape-kit processing across the U.S. And as Detective Olivia Benson, she continues to spread that same awareness across the airwaves.
(Via Variety)