This September, you’re going to want to save your entire Thursday night for the Law & Order premiere event. Starting at 8:00 p.m. on September 22, the three casts of Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, and Law & Order: Organized Crime will unite, for the first time, for a single case.
Just like the One Chicago franchise, all three series are produced by Universal Television in association with Dick Wolf Entertainment. So, considering what a big crossover night usually implies for that franchise (think: big), it’s time to start counting down the seconds until this one hits our screens.
At this point, you’re probably wondering how it’s all going to work. In the first place — and we can’t stress this enough — this isn’t your typical Law & Order Thursday, so you’re going to need to watch the whole night. If you can’t catch the premieres live and usually watch on DVR, make sure you’re set for the entire three-hour block.
Here’s the official synopsis:
“As the telecast begins, a mysterious young girl is shot in cold blood and Det. Frank Cosgrove (Jeffrey Donovan) teams up with Det. Jalen Shaw (Mehcad Brooks, first episode) to track down her killer. Capt. Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Det. Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) are called in to help when they realize they have more than a typical homicide case on their hands. After uncovering key evidence, Jack McCoy (Sam Waterston) and ADA Nolan Price (Hugh Dancy) seek justice against an international crime ring, but complications threaten the outcome of their case.”
(Source: NBC press release)
Also of note: The premiere is written by Law & Order‘s Rick Eid and Chicago P.D.‘s Gwen Sigan. For those of you unfamiliar with what Sigan has done on P.D., let’s just say if we weren’t interested before, we would be now. But the Eid/Sigan writing team, paired with directors Jean de Segonzac (for the first two hours) and Alex Hall (for the final piece), isn’t all that’s got us looking forward to the big night.
First off, there’s the obvious draw of seeing Hargitay and Meloni doing that thing they do together. But even aside from that, we’re really excited to see how this massive team-up plays out. The biggest draw? All three squads boast women as their commanding officers. So, the thought of seeing the trifecta of Captain Benson, Lieutenant Dixon (Camryn Manheim), and Sergeant Bell (Danielle Moné Truitt) taking the lead for this big case is a lot to process.
A lot of good to process, that is.
Then, there’s trying to figure out how Organized Crime‘s Jet (Ainsley Seiger) might be able to work her magic for the likes of SVU‘s Fin (Ice-T), Rollins (Kelli Giddish), and Velasco (Octavio Pisano). Or even how any of the above might take to Cosgrove and/or Shaw.
