NBC Pushes ‘Law & Order: Hate Crimes’ Release
NBC is not moving forward with “Law & Order: Hate Crimes” as planned.
The drama, which received a straight-to-series order at NBC in September, was originally set to debut in a planted spinoff episode during “Law & Order: SVU” this season.
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That plan has now been scrapped, but the show remains in active development at the network. According to sources, progress on the show had not met expectations, so Universal Television decided they would rather not rush the project given their longstanding relationship with series co-creator Dick Wolf and the franchise.
“Hate Crimes” had received a 13 episode commitment from NBC. Co-created by Wolf and former “SVU” showrunner Warren Leight (pictured above), the newest installment of the iconic TV franchise is based on New York’s actual 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.
The series is a Wolf Entertainment production in association with Universal Television. Wolf and Leight are creators and executive producers. Peter Jankowski and Arthur Forney will also serve as executive producers.
“Hate Crimes” would be the seventh series in the “Law & Order” franchise overall, with “SVU” currently being the only other show in the franchise to still be on the air.
With this, NBC now only has six dramas in contention for next season. Among those is “Lincoln,” formerly known as “The Bone Collector,” based on the Lincoln Rhyme novels by Jeffrey Deaver. Also in the works is “Prism,” a “Rashomon”-style look at a murder trial with Malin Akerman and Mykelti Williamson among those set to star.
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