The nineteenth season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit premiered on September 27, 2017.
Michael Chernuchin, who had previously worked on Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and Chicago Justice took over from Rick Eid as showrunner. This is also the first season since season twelve in 2010-2011, that another Law & Order series -- Law & Order: True Crime - The Menendez Murders -- aired alongside SVU on NBC.
Video Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (season 19)
Production
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit was renewed for a nineteenth season on May 12, 2017. Michael S. Chernuchin, who had previously worked on Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and Chicago Justice took over from Rick Eid as showrunner, after Eid left to be showrunner for the fifth season of Chicago P.D. after only one season as showrunner. It was announced that the season would premiere on September 27, 2017. Production on the season started on July 20, 2017.
Storylines
Showrunner/executive producer Michael Chernuchin told The Hollywood Reporter that this season of SVU would be 'ripping the headlines' of more current and political events such as the Charlottesville riots. Chernuchin noting, "Conflict. It's just the state of the world today with everybody. Everybody's political now and everything is political now and we want to deal with that." Kate Stanhope at THR also mentioned to Chernuchin about the pulled episode ("Unstoppable") from last season, asking him if he was hesitant about diving into politics this season. Chernuchin replied, "I'm not going to a choose a side. I won't choose a side. I'm going to present both political views and let the audience decide which one is right. My goal, and I told the writers on this on the first day of our writers' room, is at the end of every episode, I want half the audience to throw their shoes at the television and the other half to stand up and cheer."
Another episode Chernuchin told THR would be based on Charlie Gard, an infant in England who was born with a rare genetic disorder that causes progressive brain damage and muscle failure. "That's a life and death story," Chernuchin explained. "Cat-fishing," cyberbullying -- which he described to THR as "[SVU's] answer to 13 Reasons Why -- and an airplane episode covering "all the turmoil on airplanes these days." Chernuchin concluded, "We are ripping things from the headlines. Some of them are big, famous headlines and some of them are smaller headlines."
On September 8, 2017, Chernuchin gave an overview of the season premiere and outlook on the season as a whole to TV Line; noting that A.D.A. Barba (Raul Esparza) would start having other problems than court battles when Peter Stone (Philip Winchester) shows up, Stone pushing Barba into "a huge moral decision." Chernuchin also teased that Lieutenant Benson's life would be getting worse before it gets any better, "What I told Mariska [Hargitay] when I came aboard is, 'You're a broken woman, because of your past, and I'm going to drag you through the woods and you're gonna come out the other side a better person," he previewed. "So we're gonna throw the kitchen sink at her [Benson]." He also mentioned there's a possibility of romance for Benson: "There might be, she's not looking for it, but it might happen." In an interview with E! News, Kelli Giddish (Det. Amanda Rollins) says a change in Benson and Rollins' relationship dynamic is coming, "I'm so looking forward to developing a friendship with Benson, the Rollins and Benson relationship, because they have so much in common." Benson and Rollins' relationship being rocky, most notably between seasons fifteen and eighteen as Benson began 'moving up the ranks' to Sergeant and then Lieutenant. "They have been at odds, it's just nice to come into that office and know that we're not going to fight and kind of support each other as I think these two characters would in real life," Giddish continued.
An episode based on the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations titled Flight Risk has been slated for a 2018 air date. "We are hitting Harvey Weinstein head-on, but it's not in the realm of the entertainment business," Michael Chernuchin said in an interview. "It's a real important episode about the rape culture in an industry, and we wanted to try stretch the law to criminalize that sort of environment."
Maps Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (season 19)
Cast
The entire main cast from the previous season returned. In August 2017, it was announced that Philip Winchester would reprise his role as Assistant State's Attorney Peter Stone from Chicago Justice, appearing around the midpoint of the season. New show runner/executive producer Michael Chernuchin told Entertainment Weekly that Stone's character would be coming in as an antagonist and that he will be a foil for A.D.A. Barba (Raul Esparza) this season; Stone's character isn't necessarily taking his [Barba's] job. "There's more than one A.D.A. in New York [...] Philip will come in and he won't be the nicest person our characters have ever met. What he's going to be doing, too, is basically bringing all of the franchises into one. He's connecting Law & Order, the Chicago franchises and now SVU."
Main cast
- Mariska Hargitay as Lieutenant Olivia Benson
- Kelli Giddish as Detective Amanda Rollins
- Ice-T as Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola
- Peter Scanavino as Detective Dominick "Sonny" Carisi, Jr.
- Raúl Esparza as A.D.A. Rafael Barba
Recurring cast
- Dean Winters as DA Investigator Brian Cassidy
- Barbara Miluski as Judge Lisa Peck
- Peter Jacobson as Defence Attorney Randy Dworkin
- Vincent Curatola as Judge Al Burtuccio
- Brooke Shields as Sheila Porter
- Ami Brabson as Judge Karyn Blake
- Peter Hermann as Defense Attorney Trevor Langan
- Steve Rosen as Defence Attorney Michael Guthrie
- Jayne Houdyshell as Judge Ruth Linden
Guest stars
It was announced on August 11, 2017 by The Hollywood Reporter that actress Brooke Shields would play a 'major' recurring role throughout the course of the season. "I play a very different character from any I have ever played," Shields commented. "I'm excited to stir the SVU pot a bit." THR noted that details of her role are being kept under wraps, although it's been teased that Shields' role will "shake up Benson's (Mariska Hargitay) world." At the New York Fashion Week event on September 7, 2017, Shields talked about her "complicated" character; "We're discovering the character," she said of her at the time, mysterious recurring role, "it's pretty complicated and it's gut wrenching. What's so amazing about the show is that the characters are so rich and layered, and they're just filtering me through it." Shields also noted that her character was set to begin appearing in the third episode ("Contrapasso") of the season.. In that episode's last scene, Shields' character was revealed to be Noah's previously unknown grandmother, Sheila Porter, who intends to challenge Benson for custody.
On August 18, Entertainment Weekly released a sneak-peak of the script of SVU's season 19 premiere episode (titled: "Gone Fishin'") and announced that Will Chase would be guest starring as Byron Marks, an accused rapist who turned fugitive when he fled to Cuba six years prior, he is caught by Fin (Ice T) in the premiere's opening scenes. Amy Smart guest starred as one of Marks' victims, and Peter Jacobson - who previously guest starred in the thirteenth-season finale and recurred in season fourteen as a pimp named Bart Ganzel - guest starred in the premiere as his recurring mothership Law & Order character, Defense Attorney Randy Dworkin, a character created by Michael Chernuchin during his tenure on L&O. Annabeth Gish guest starred in the third episode of the season. She portrayed a defense attorney in a case where a man is castrated and left for dead; leading the SVU squad to three female suspects with possible motives. Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Isaiah Thomas, made a cameo appearance as himself in an October episode ("Complicated") of SVU. Thomas' cameo appearance occurs in the midst of a missing persons investigation.
Mike Faist, a Tony Award-nominated actor starring as Connor Murphy in Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen, guest starred as a young man struggling with the long-ago disappearance of his sister in "Complicated". The Walking Dead alum, Brighton Sharbino guest starred as a teenager who disappears when her classmates make her the subject of a cyberbullying attack. Madison Pettis also guest stars in the episode, titled "No Good Reason", which aired on NBC, October 18th 2017. Another Broadway star, Christiane Noll, guest starred in the episode "Unintended Consquences" as Sarah Curtis "After 19 years on the air, I will finally be appearing as a guest star on episode #19006 of Law & Order: SVU! I am really excited because this is my first big guest starring role," Noll told Playbill. Peter Scolari guest starred along with Noll in "Unintended Consequences" as Dr. Dennis Barkley. In October 2017, THR announced Melora Walters and Joanna Going would guest star in a special episode of SVU ("Something Happened"). Walters played the rape victim, Laurel Linwood, who knows she was raped but can't remember what happened. Going played Laurel's sister, Leah, who is brought in to help fill in the blanks.
On September 20, 2017, it was announced Sam Waterston will guest star in an upcoming episode of SVU as his Law & Order character, Jack McCoy. Waterston will be re-united with show runner/EP Michael S. Chernuchin, who also held the same position at the time Waterston joined the original series in 1994; Chernuchin is credited as the creator of the McCoy character. This will also mark Waterston's fourth guest appearance on SVU. Entertainment Weekly announced on November 2, 2017 that Tamara Tunie (M.E. Melinda Warner), Carolyn McCormick (Dr. Elizabeth Olivet), and Jenna Stern (Judge Elana Barth) would be returning in a January slated episode (titled "Pathological") as their respective characters.
Episodes
Ratings
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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