TV SERIES · 1999–present · USA
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
- Created by
- Dick Wolf
- Network
- NBC
- Seasons
- 28
- Episodes
- 595
- Studio
- Wolf Entertainment, Universal Television, Studios USA
47 archived facts 5 topics 2 sources Last reviewed Sep 2026
In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories.
Summary: TMDB
All facts (47)
- #001
The concept for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit began with the 1986 "preppie murder" case of Robert Chambers, who killed Jennifer Levin in Manhattan's Central Park.
- #002
The idea for the series grew out of the 1986 Robert Chambers case in Manhattan's Central Park, known as the "preppie murder." Drawing on that event, Dick Wolf first wrote an episode of Law & Order, then wanted to explore the psychology of crimes and the role of human sexuality in greater depth.
- #003
That crime led Dick Wolf to write the story for the Law & Order season one episode "Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die".
- #004
The production was initially titled Sex Crimes. The producers worried that if the show failed, being associated with the Law & Order brand could affect the original series, while Ted Kotcheff wanted to build a production independent of the original show. Because Dick Wolf considered the phrase "Law & Order" in the title commercially necessary, he first proposed the name Law & Order: Sex Crimes. After Barry Diller, then head of Studios USA, objected to the title, it was changed to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit to reflect the NYPD's real unit handling sex crimes.
- #005
The series premiered on NBC on September 20, 1999, produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television. It has won 59 awards out of 108 nominations. Mariska Hargitay won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2006, becoming the first and only cast member to win that award on any Law & Order series.
- #006
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit was originally titled Sex Crimes. Producers worried that if Sex Crimes failed, associating the new show with the Law & Order franchise could harm the original series.
- #007
Christopher Meloni appeared on the series for 12 seasons as Detective Elliot Stabler before leaving in 2011. Olivia Benson, played by Mariska Hargitay, rose from detective to captain and became the series' longest-running lead character.
- #008
Ted Kotcheff wanted to create a new series that would not depend on the original Law & Order for its success.
- #009
Richard Belzer's character John Munch entered his 21st consecutive season in the fall of 2012, in the series' 14th season, counting his time on Homicide: Life on the Street and then SVU. He thus broke the 20-season record held by two Gunsmoke actors and remained in the cast through SVU's 15th season. In the fall of 2021, Mariska Hargitay began her 23rd season as Olivia Benson, surpassing Belzer's record; the two longest-running lead characters in American prime-time live-action scripted television history have therefore both appeared on SVU.
- #010
Dick Wolf considered it important and commercially desirable to include "Law & Order" in the title, and he first proposed Law & Order: Sex Crimes.
- #011
With the start of its 21st season in September 2019, the series became the longest-running prime-time live-action series on American television. Since the original Law & Order ended in 2010, it has been the only live-action prime-time series that began in the 1990s to remain in continuous production.
- #012
Its 23rd season began on September 23, 2021, and the series' 500th episode aired that season. As of May 14, 2026, the production had reached 594 original episodes, surpassing the episode count of the original Law & Order and ranking third among American prime-time scripted series in episode count, behind The Simpsons and Gunsmoke.
- #013
Neal Baer departed Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as showrunner after season twelve, ending eleven years with the series across seasons 2 through 12, to sign a three-year deal with CBS Television Studios.
- #014
Warren Leight, formerly showrunner of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, replaced Neal Baer on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit; in March 2015 Leight signed a three-year deal with Sony Pictures Television allowing him to remain on SVU for one more season, its seventeenth.
- #015
On March 10, 2016, it was announced that original Law & Order veteran producer Rick Eid would succeed Warren Leight as showrunner of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit beginning with season 18; creator Dick Wolf told The Hollywood Reporter he was extremely pleased that Eid had decided to rejoin the family and hoped he would remain for years.
- #016
During post-production of season 18 of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, after the series was renewed for a nineteenth season, it was revealed that showrunner Rick Eid had left; he was set to take over another Dick Wolf/NBC series, Chicago P.D.
- #017
Michael S. Chernuchin, who had previously served as showrunner on the original Law & Order and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, was announced on May 25, 2017 to return to that role for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit beginning with its nineteenth season.
- #018
Chernuchin had also been co-creator and executive producing showrunner of Chicago Justice, a Wolf-related series that NBC canceled at the close of the 2016–17 TV season.
- #019
On April 22, 2019, it was announced that Leight would come back as showrunner for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit's twenty-first season.
- #020
Leight stated on May 3, 2022 that he would not return as showrunner for the twenty-fourth season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
- #021
NBC renewed Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for its twenty-seventh season in May 2025.
- #022
Michele Fazekas became showrunner of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the first woman to hold that position on the series.
- #023
Michele Fazekas is expected to continue as showrunner of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
- #024
Casting for the lead roles in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit took place in the spring of 1999, with Dick Wolf, NBC officials and Studios USA representatives attending the final auditions for the two leads at Rockefeller Center.
- #025
For the role of Detective Olivia Benson, the final candidates were Samantha Mathis, Reiko Aylesworth and Mariska Hargitay, while Tim Matheson, John Slattery, Nick Chinlund and Christopher Meloni were the last contenders for Detective Elliot Stabler.
- #026
Mariska Hargitay and Christopher Meloni auditioned together in the final round, and after they left, Dick Wolf broke a moment of silence by declaring there was no doubt the two should be chosen.
- #027
Dann Florek was the first actor cast for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He had originated the role of Captain Don Cragen in the 1990 pilot of Law & Order and played the character for that show's first three seasons.
- #028
Dann Florek was fired from Law & Order on the orders of network executives who wanted to add female characters to the all-male primary cast. He nevertheless maintained a friendly relationship with Dick Wolf and later directed three episodes of the original series and occasionally guest-starred on it.
- #029
Shortly after Dann Florek reprised his role as Don Cragen in Exiled: A Law & Order Movie, he received a call to appear in Sex Crimes. He was initially reluctant but agreed to star as Cragen on the assurance that he would not have to audition.
- #030
After Homicide: Life on the Street was cancelled, Richard Belzer learned that Benjamin Bratt had departed Law & Order and asked his manager to propose to Dick Wolf that Belzer's Homicide character, Detective John Munch, become the partner of Jerry Orbach's Detective Lennie Briscoe.
- #031
Dick Wolf liked the idea of pairing John Munch with Lennie Briscoe, but Jesse L. Martin had already been cast as Briscoe's new partner, Detective Ed Green, so the concept was reconfigured to place Munch on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit instead.
- #032
Because John Munch was inspired by David Simon's depiction of Detective Sergeant Jay Landsman and developed for Homicide by Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson, adding the character to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit required the consent of all three; Fontana and Levinson agreed to waive their royalty rights.
- #033
Contracts with David Simon required that he be paid royalties for any new show in which John Munch is a main character, so Simon receives royalties each time Munch appears in an episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
- #034
Richard Belzer conditioned his participation in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on Dean Winters being cast as his character John Munch's partner, Brian Cassidy.
- #035
Dean Winters left Law & Order: Special Victims Unit because he was contractually committed to the HBO drama Oz, and he later returned as Brian Cassidy in the season 13 finale and the two-part season 14 premiere.
- #036
Michelle Hurd joined Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Detective Monique Jeffries to fill the gap left by Dean Winters's departure, and she exited at the start of season two for Leap Years.
- #037
Ice-T initially agreed to only four episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit but stayed on as John Munch's permanent partner, Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola, after relocating to New York City.
- #038
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit initially centered only on the police work of the Special Victims Unit detectives of the 16th precinct, with District Attorney's office members appearing occasionally as guest roles crossing over from the original Law & Order.
- #039
From season two onward, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit changed its format to include court cases, making it more faithful to the original Law & Order concept.
- #040
Tamara Tunie was cast as medical examiner Melinda Warner in season two of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, after having worked with Dick Wolf on New York Undercover, Feds and Law & Order.
- #041
Melinda Warner began as a recurring character on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and was made a regular in season seven, when Tamara Tunie joined the opening credits.
- #042
At the time she was cast as Warner, Tamara Tunie was playing attorney Jessica Griffin on the CBS daytime soap opera As the World Turns, and she appeared on both series at once from 2000 to 2007 and again briefly in 2009.
- #043
BD Wong was asked to film four episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as FBI forensic psychiatrist and criminal profiler Dr. George Huang, and after those episodes he was asked to remain with the show.
- #044
Dick Wolf believed Adam Beach would be a good addition to the cast of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and asked him to become a permanent member starting with the ninth season, after Beach guest-starred as Detective Chester Lake in the eighth season.
- #045
Adam Beach described his role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as a "dream role", but the character was unpopular with fans who believed he had been created to gradually write out either Richard Belzer or Ice-T.
- #046
Adam Beach left Law & Order: Special Victims Unit after only one season, feeling there were too many police characters on the show.
- #047
Michaela McManus was initially considered too young for an Assistant District Attorney role before she was cast as ADA Kim Greylek in the tenth season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, but she stayed with the series only half a season and departed for unspecified reasons.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia Wikipedia (EN)
- Wikipedia Law & Order: Special Victims Unit — Wikipedia
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