‘Law & Order: Hate Crimes’ Series Pushed At NBC
NBC is putting a pin in its plans for Law & Order: Hate Crimes, the greenlighted new Law & Order spinoff from the franchise’s creator Dick Wolf. Back in September, the network gave a 13-episode order to the project, which was supposed to be introduced as a planted spinoff from Law & Order: SVU in an episode during the latter part of the veteran drama’s current record-tying 20th season before launching next season.
That no longer will happen. Law & Order: Hate Crimes, co-created by Wolf and one of his top lieutenants, former Law & Order: SVU showrunner Warren Leight, remains in active development at the network as everyone needed more time to flesh out the concept. SVU has not been renewed yet but likely will be so it can break the record for the longest-running drama series jointly held by Gunsmoke and Law & Order, so the spinoff could be introduced during SVU‘s 21st and likely final season.
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The latest Law & Order installment is based on New York’s real Hate Crimes Task Force, the second-oldest bias-based task force in the U.S. The unit, which pledges to uphold a zero-tolerance policy against discrimination of any kind, works under the NYPD’s real Special Victims Unit and often borrows SVU’s detectives to assist in their investigations.
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This would be the seventh Law & Order series, following mothership Law & Order, SVU, Criminal Intent, Trial by Jury, LA and last season’s anthology True Crime.
Law & Order: Hate Crimes is set in New York City, where crimes motivated by discrimination are vigorously investigated by an elite, specially trained team of investigators. Going behind the headlines and viral videos, these diverse, dedicated and passionate detectives will stop at nothing to bring these criminals to justice.
“As with all of my crime shows, I want to depict what’s really going on in our cities and shine a light on the wide-ranging victims and show that justice can prevail,” Wolf said at the time of the pickup announcement. “Twenty years ago when SVU began, very few people felt comfortable coming forward and reporting these crimes, but when you bring the stories into people’s living rooms – with characters as empathetic as Olivia Benson – a real dialogue can begin. That’s what I hope we can do with this new show in a world where hate crimes have reached an egregious level.”
Related2019 NBC Pilots & Series Orders
Law & Order: Hate Crimes is a Wolf Entertainment production in association with Universal Television. Dick Wolf and Warren Leight are creators and executive producers. Peter Jankowski and Arthur Forney will also serve as executive producers.
NBC just renewed all three of Wolf’s Chicago series for next season, while CBS has given an early renewal to his FBI freshman drama. Wolf has two broadcast pilots, an FBI spinoff at CBS, which also is being introduced in an episode of the mothership series, and a New York Undercover reboot at ABC.
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