NBC Renewal Twist: Which Law & Order Series Did Not Get a Full Season Order?

In Dick Wolf’s criminal justice system, not all renewals are created equal.

Whereas Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU have secured 22-episode pickups (for Seasons 23 and 25, respectively), an NBC rep confirms to TVLine that Season 4 of Christopher Meloni’s Organized Crime will consist of just 13 episodes.

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According to a source, Organized Crime producers have very specific plans for next season, which are best accomplished with a reduced order.

Organized Crime — led by Meloni, reprising his SVU role as Elliot Stabler — premiered in April 2021, and has already cycled through five (yes, five!) showrunners. Original series boss Matt Olmstead was replaced by Ilene Chaiken before the spinoff made it to air, while Chaiken was replaced by Barry O’Brien midway through Season 2. O’Brien was succeeded by Bryan Goluboff, who lasted three months, before Sean Jablonski was appointed showrunner No. 4. He left in mid-March over “creative differences,” at which point current SVU boss David Graziano was brought on to oversee the final three episodes of Season 3.

Law & Order: OC currently airs Thursdays at 10/9c on NBC, with new episodes resuming on April 26. Variety was the first to report the series’ reduced order.

How are you feeling about the Stabler-centric Law & Order: Organized Crime? Do you think the limited number of episodes will benefit the show creatively? Sound off in Comments.

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