There is no stopping the Law & Order franchise. NBC has handed out a series order to a new spinoff called Law & Order: For The Defense, coming to us from series creator Dick Wolf and CSI's Carol Mendelsohn.
Law & Order: For The Defense will take us inside a criminal defense firm and put the layers under the microscope. The criminal justice system will also be explored and every week a contemporary morality tale will be delivered via the procedural series. Dick Wolf had this to say about the new series in the Law & Order universe:
"This new show is exciting for me personally. We spent the last 30 years on shows that played offense. Now it will be great to play defense, and being able to do it with Carol is an honor and an opportunity for both of us to do television that hasn’t been done before."
Mendelsohn will serve as showrunner on the series and she is executive producing alongside Dick Wolf, Arthur Forney, Julie Weitz, and Peter Jankowski. The deal for the spinoff exists under an overall deal that Wolf and Mendelsohn have with NBC to produce new content. Lisa Katz, President, Scripted Programming, NBCUniversal Television, and Streaming, expressed her excitement on the new project and continuing to work with Wolf and forming a new working relationship with Mendelsohn via the following statement:
"We can’t wait to bring audiences the latest chapter of Law & Order, which will explore a different angle of the criminal justice system. We’re excited about Dick Wolf’s perpetually thought-provoking approach as well his collaboration with Carol Mendelsohn, who we have been eager to do a series with for a long time."
The Law and Order universe, as we know it today, began in 1990 with the original series, Law & Order. The show ran for 20 seasons and eventually led to the creation of the first spinoff, Law & Order: SVU, starring Marika Hargitay. SVU is still running today and continues to be a reliable player for the network in its current 22nd season. To date, Law & Order: SVU is the longest-running live-action series in the history of television.
Other Law & Order spinoffs included Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Trial By Jury, Law & Order: LA, and Law & Order: True Crime. NBC struck gold again with the franchise as the offshoot of SVU, Law & Order: Organized Crime has proven to be a hit already with fans. The show, which was also given a straight-to-series order before launch, stars Chris Meloni, who began his original Law & Order tenure on SVU. Its premiere on April 1, 2021, made it the top series debut from any network in 2 and half years (excluding NFL lead-ins). Also, if we're getting technical, Dick Wolf's Chicago shows (Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., and Chicago Med) also exist in this universe of this is a TV world that is essentially the equivalent of the MCU.
Will YOU be watching Law & Order: For The Defense?