'Law & Order: Organized Crime' Showrunner Reveals How Christopher Meloni Spinoff Differs From 'SVU'

Law & Order: Organized Crime debuts in just one week and the series' showrunner has revealed how [...]

By Stephen Andrew

Law & Order: Organized Crime debuts in just one week and the series' showrunner has revealed how the Christopher Meloni-starring spinoff differs from its predecessor, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. During a recent conversation with Entertainment Weekly, executive producer Ilene Chaiken (The L Word) explained, "It's not a case of the week, because organized crime doesn't work in that way."

Chaiken added, "It's an episodic show; the episodes will stand on their own. But the stories will also play out over the course of a whole season." Chaiken joined the show back in October, taking over as showrunner from Matt Olmstead. "We want to do a different Law & Order," Chaiken says of the new series. "If they had asked me to do a conventional procedural, I probably wouldn't have said yes, because it's not my strength and it's not my interest."

The showrunner went onto say, "Yes, it's very much a part of the franchise, and the fans will get all of the things they want from it. But the very first thing [Wolf's team] said to me is that the show is serialized. His family, his history, is all very much a part of the show. That's the show — who this man was, who he is."

Meloni also spoke with Entertainment Weekly, discussing his return to the Dick Wolf television universe and very candidly saying that he really did not miss SVU after leaving. "I would have no problem admitting to it. But I was pleasantly surprised it played out as well as it did. Because, you know, that's not how life shakes out, right? You can have all the dreams you want, all the preconceived notions of how it's going to be. But I must say, the intervening decade was everything I could have hoped for

Wolf addressed Meloni's exit from SVU, saying that he wanted the actor back "since the day he left." He continued, "Elliot Stabler is tough as nails, he has an infallible moral compass, and he is the cop we wish shows up if you ever need one." Wolf also very confidently insisted on Organized Crime, "This could really work."

Finally, Meloni, while he remains firm in his stance on leaving SVU, admitted that he loved putting the badge back on again. "It felt great, a surprising sense of freedom," he said. "It was a very interesting feeling because I rarely get it. It was just kind of a weird sign that everything's right, and I was where I belonged." Law & Order: Organized Crime premieres on April 1 on NBC.

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