Dick Wolf’s popular “Law & Order” franchise isn’t done telling New York City stories.
NBC has ordered up 13 episodes of a new show titled “Law & Order: Hate Crimes,” the network announced on Tuesday.
The series will focus on the NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force and overlap with the “Law & Order: Special Victim’s Unit” cast. It is created by Wolf and former SVU showrunner and “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” executive producer Warren Leight.
Wolf and Leight said exploring the investigations of hate crimes is especially timely in the current climate.
“Twenty years ago when ‘SVU’ began, very few people felt comfortable coming forward and reporting these crimes, but when you bring the stories into people’s living rooms — with characters as empathetic as Olivia Benson — a real dialogue can begin,” Wolf said in a statement. “That’s what I hope we can do with this new show in a world where hate crimes have reached an egregious level.”
“Hate Crimes” is the seventh series under the “Law & Order” brand, which started in 1990 with the original show focused on NYPD detectives and prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
Viewers will get to meet some members of the Hate Crimes Task Force during the upcoming season of “SVU.”
“I’m extremely impressed by the actual men and women investigating these cases in a city as complicated and diverse as New York,” Leight said in a statement. “The work they are doing puts them on the front lines in a battle for the soul of our city and nation.”
All of the “Law & Order” series were set in New York City, except for the short-lived “Law & Order: LA” which ran from 2010 to 2011 and “Law & Order: True Crime” in 2017 which focused on the 1989 Menendez murders in Beverly Hills.
In recent years, Wolf has created a trio of successful shows based in Chicago: “Chicago Fire,” “Chicago P.D.” and “Chicago Med.”
