Law & Order Gets Another Spinoff: For the Defense Ordered to Series on NBC

Virginia Sherwood/NBC

The Law & Order universe is continuing to expand.

On Monday, less than five weeks after the launch of Law & Order: Organized Crime with Christopher Meloni, NBC announced that a new spinoff, titled Law & Order: For the Defense, has been ordered straight to series on the network.

NBC describes the upcoming series as one that "will take an unbiased look inside a criminal defense firm."

Law & Order creator Dick Wolf also states that For the Defense "is exciting for me personally," in that it's a fresh take on the franchise after having "spent the last 30 years on shows that played offense."

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty; Michael Tullberg/Getty Dick Wolf (L); Carol Mendelsohn

Helmed by Wolf and Carol Mendelsohn, the show will "put the lawyers under the microscope, along with the criminal justice system with every week delivering the promise of a contemporary morality tale."

Mendelsohn, who's known for her work on CSI, will serve as For the Defense's showrunner and executive producer — the latter alongside Wolf, Peter Jankowski, Julie Weitz and Arthur Forney. Universal Television and Wolf Entertainment are set to produce.

"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," Wolf adds.

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The For the Defense announcement comes amid Law & Order's newest series Organized Crime, whose recent crossover premiere event provided a long-awaited reunion between Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler (Meloni). Organized Crime was the franchise's sixth spinoff to launch; in addition to For the Defense, Law & Order: Hate Crimes, first announced in 2018, remains in development.

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Also announced on Monday, Wolf is set to debut another new drama on IMDb TV, titled On Call. The half-hour series will follow two police officers as they respond to calls and arrive on the scenes while on patrol in Long Beach, California.

Wolf also remains executive producer of NBC's hit three-show Chicago series, as well as CBS' highly rated FBI and FBI Most Wanted.