‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’ Production Paused After Positive COVID Test

Law & Order: Organized Crime‘s production has reportedly come to a pause after someone on the NBC series set tested positive for COVID-19, according to Deadline. The series came to a pause Saturday after someone in Zone A, which typically includes on-screen talent, tested positive as part of the series’ ongoing testing protocols, and people in close contact have been asked to self-isolate. While it’s unclear when production will resume, the outlet reported the series is still on track for its scheduled April 1 premiere date.

Organized Crime is the much-anticipated spinoff of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit that will return Christopher Meloni‘s Elliot Stabler to the screen. After leaving SVU in 2011 after 12 seasons, Stabler will return to the NYPD as the leader of an elite new taskforce following a traumatic personal loss to take on the city’s most powerful crime syndicates. Meloni’s Stabler is scheduled to first reunite with his former partner, Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay), on Law & Order: SVU at 9 p.m. ET on April 1 before Organized Crime‘s 10 p.m. ET premiere.

In July, after Meloni’s return to the franchise was announced, he told Entertainment Tonight that a “certain piece” fell into place, leading him to agree to step back into Stabler’s shoes. “For me, there were just personal things that I was like, ‘You know, now is a good time.’ That was it. There was nothing secret. It just was effortlessly correct,” he said of returning to the fan-favorite role a decade later. “It’s one of these [things where] I felt like I believed in the stars and all that… I’d go, ‘Oh, the stars are telling me you know but because it was just right.’”

As for his on-camera chemistry with Hargitay, he continued, “We just pick it up right where we left off and we’ve said it’s like we don’t have this relationship with anyone else. It’s unique; it’s full of laughter, she’s full of love. We just kind of fall seamlessly into that place every time we see each other.”

Meloni has shared several photos from the set over the past few months, and showrunner Warren Leight told Entertainment Tonight last month that the first Zoom table read felt like no time had passed at all. “In some ways, it had the feel of an opening night on Broadway: lots of anticipation, excitement, even nervousness,” Leight said. “We had many well-wishers from the network, studio, and Wolf Entertainment join us. The moment Benson and Stabler had their first scene, everything fell into place. I just wish we could have all gone to an opening party when it was over.”