Why ‘Law & Order’ and ‘One Chicago’ Cast Members Will Miss Multiple Episodes Next Season

The Law & Order and One Chicago franchises were recently renewed, but it’s not all good news, as fans will be seeing less of their favorite characters next season. According to Deadline, due to budget cuts, episodic guarantees are being renegotiated across all six shows, minus Law & Order: Organized Crime, which has a shortened season. Other shows, like Blue Bloods, have taken pay cuts in order to keep going, but it seems the Dick Wolf shows have opted to go a different route.

Instead of the usual 22, series regulars are being asked to do 18-20 episodes, and this will most likely happen for all actors, save for a few who are critical to a series. In this economy, it seems like every show is having to take up budget cuts one way or another to keep going, and while it is a disappointment that we’ll have to see less of everyone, it’s better than the alternative, which would have probably been a cancellation.

The reduced episodes come after the One Chicago franchise has had to say goodbye to more than a few of its actors already this season, including Brian Tee, Jesse Lee Soffer, and Taylor Kinney, the latter of whom abruptly exited Chicago Fire earlier this year for personal reasons. As of now, he hasn’t officially left the series, but it’s unknown if he’ll be back by next month’s season finale. Law & Order: SVU, meanwhile, saw the exit of Kelli Giddish’s Amanda Rollins before winter break, but she is set to return to both SVU and Organized Crime at the end of the season.

With news about renegotiations out now, that should give writers enough time to come up with storylines that will properly explain the absences for the characters. However, not every absence needs to be explained, as sometimes, not every character can have a storyline that will fit in the episode. As long as it’s not too many episodes in a row, it usually works. But it would definitely be better to have an explanation, even if it’s a quick one.

It will be interesting to see if any of the upcoming season finales will set up the characters having to leave, but since this was just announced and most of them have already completed filming, it’s unlikely. We probably won’t see the setups until the next seasons start, and it’s hard to predict if they will be bigger parts of the storylines or just one-off plots. Either way, the returns of Law & Order and One Chicago will be a lose-win situation.