NBC has given the green light for a 19th season of venerable procedural Law & Order: SVU. Despite having to wait until Friday evening, a time typically reserved for the last bubble decisions before upfronts, SVU was never in any danger of being cancelled; the delay was prompted by star Mariska Hargitay finishing up her new contract.
The series is one of a handful of Dick Wolf dramas at NBC, including straight-to-series true-crime drama Law & Order: True Crime – The Menendez Murders, and acts as the lone non-Chicago based member of the network’s vaunted Chicago-verse, which comprises Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, Chicago PD, and Chicago Justice. Justice is another NBC drama whose fate hasn’t been decided yet and while you’d think its performance and position within the Chicago-verse would be enough to command renewal, NBC might think its currently un-syndicated Chicago franchise needed some downsizing.
The two-hour season finale of SVU is set for Wednesday, May 24th on NBC. You can check out what KSiteTV thought the network could do with its 2017-18 schedule, which will be released on Sunday, here.