‘Law & Order: SVU’ Spin-Off ‘Organized Crime’ Introduces New Showrunner

Law & Order: Organized Crime, the new spin-off starring former Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Christopher Meloni, has a new showrunner Ilene Chaiken, who created The L World, has replaced One Chicago franchise veteran Matt Olmstead to lead the new crime series. Organized Crime will see Meloni playing Elliot Stabler for the first time in a decade, this time leading his own squad.

Chaiken joined as the new executive producer and showrunner for Organized Crime on Wednesday. She is coming off her successful work on Fox’s Empire, created by Lee Daniels and Danny Strong. “I’ve always admired Ilene’s work from afar and am excited to finally have the opportunity to collaborate together,” Universal TV President Erin Underhill said in a statement to Deadline. “Her talent is undeniable and she brings a strong, distinct voice to her storytelling with beautifully crafted characters. Her success across all platforms makes her incomparable, and we are thrilled to welcome her to UTV.”

In Organized Crime, Stabler agrees to return to the New York Police Department after a recent family loss. He quickly learns things have changed while he was gone and now has to adapt to a criminal justice system that itself is in a state of upheaval due to the recent protests agaisnt police brutality. Stabler and Meloni have not appeared on SVU since Season 12 ended in May 2011. He is scheduled to make an appearance on SVU before Organized Crime begins.

Stabler was originally set to appear in the SVU Season 22 premiere, but those plans were put on hold because of the pandemic and Olmstead’s departure. NBC ordered 13 episodes of the new show in March. Meloni confirmed production is underway, as he shared a photo of the U.S. Marine Corps. tattoo Stabler had on SVU, now applied to his arm again. “First day of school,” he added in the hashtag.

Last week, Mariska Hargitay, who plays Olivia Benson, shared a screenshot of the SVU cast reading the script for Meloni’s appearance on the show. “Well… that happened,” Hargitay simply wrote in the caption. The photo included all the main SVU castmembers, Ice-T, Kelli Giddish, Demore Barnes, Peter Scanavino and Jamie Gray Hyder. The next new SVU episode airs Thursday, Jan. 7 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC. The episode will feature the return of Raul Esparza as Rafael Barba.