Why ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Will Feature Loads of New Faces in Season 22

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit usually has a strong pool of talent to draw from, thanks to filming on location in New York. This season, the show has an even deeper pool, as producers focus on bringing in Broadway stars, providing them with acting gigs while the Great White Way is shuttered indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic. Thursday’s episode will be the first of several shows to feature multiple acclaimed Broadway actors, showrunner Warren Leight told Deadline last week.

In the upcoming episode, Alex Brightman and Eva Noblezada will both star alongside SVU regulars Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, and the rest of the main cast. Brightman earned Tony nominations for his starring roles in School of Rock and Beetlejuice, while Noblezada was nominated for Miss Saigon and Hadestown. This will mark Noblezada’s first time on television, but Brightman has been seen in episodes of Royal Pains and SMILF. He also starred in the acclaimed Documentary Now! episode, “Original Cast Album: Co-Op.”

After announcing the two stars joined the SVU family, Leight tweeted, “We are trying to hire every Broadway actor we can while we and they wait for the curtains to rise again.” He was being serious. “We know how hard the community has been hit here,” Leight told Deadline. “The goal is to get as many jobs to as many theater actors as we possibly can.”

Broadway actors often appear on the Law & Order shows, and it is harder to find one without at least one episode on their resumes. The rest of this season will see more Broadway stars than usual, though. Leight said the parts would range from scenes filmed in one day to bigger roles. Adriene Lenox (Doubt: A Parable), Elizabeth Marvel (King Lear), Jane Bruce (Jagged Little Pill), Jelani Alladin (Frozen), Michael Master (Love! Valour! Compassion!), and Betsy Aidem (Steel Magnolias) have all booked parts on the show. The Broadway shutdown even led Raul Esparza to make a comeback in last week’s episode, “Stranger in a Strange Land.”

Safety concerns are surprisingly another reason to bring in New York-based actors. They do not have to quarantine because they are not traveling from Los Angeles. “In the past, we’ve done what you could call Hollywood stunt casting, but a lot of those players aren’t going to be willing to get on a plane and quarantine right now. We realized early on that we’ll have to cast locally much more,” Leight explained.

Another advantage Broadway actors bring to the table is their experience and professionalism. Leight calls them “money players” since he needs stars who “hit their marks and can do it over and over” quickly, he told Deadline. “Our directors need to know that [guest actors] can do two scenes with Olivia and not be nervous,” he added. New episodes of Law & Order: SVU air Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.