NBC Orders New Spin-Off ‘Law & Order: Hate Crimes’
Emmy Award-winning uber-producer Dick Wolf is set to expand his ‘Law & Order’ universe once again, with a new show inspired by the actual New York City Hate Crimes Task Force.
Co-created with former ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ showrunner Warren Leight, ‘Law & Order: Hate Crimes‘ is based on New York’s actual Task Force, which is the second oldest bias-based task force in the US. The unit, which pledges to uphold a zero-tolerance policy against discrimination of any kind, works under the NYPD’s real Special Victims Unit and often borrows SVU’s detectives to assist in their investigations. That gives producers a handy way to backdoor characters from the new 13-episode series into the upcoming 20th season of ‘SVU’.
“As ‘Law & Order: SVU’ enters its remarkable 20th season, it is exciting to get back into business with Dick Wolf on a new ‘Law & Order’ incarnation that feels extremely timely,” commented Lisa Katz, Co-President of Scripted Programming, NBC Entertainment. “Considering that last year there was a double-digit rise in hate crimes in our 10 largest cities – the highest total in over a decade – it seemed like this topic is begging to be explored.”
The new series is set in New York City, where crimes motivated by discrimination are vigorously investigated by an elite, specially trained team of investigators. Going behind the headlines and viral videos, these diverse, dedicated and passionate detectives will stop at nothing to bring these criminals to justice.
“As with all of my crime shows, I want to depict what’s really going on in our cities and shine a light on the wide-ranging victims and show that justice can prevail,” comments Wolf. “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. That’s what I hope we can do with this new show in a world where hate crimes have reached an egregious level.”
“I’m extremely impressed by the actual men and women investigating these cases in a city as complicated and diverse as New York,” adds the show’s co-creator Leight. “The work they are doing puts them on the front lines in a battle for the soul of our city and nation. I’m thrilled about the chance to reunite with Dick and NBC to portray the reality of this crisis.”
Dick Wolf straddles the US procedural tv output like a giant as creator of the ‘Law & Order’ and the ‘Chicago’ franchises. ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ is about to enter its 20th season and now tied as the longest-longest running scripted filmed series in the history of television (with ‘Gunsmoke’ and ‘Law & Order’). There have also been other spin-offs such as ‘Law & Order: Criminal Intent’, ‘Law & Order: Trial by Jury’, ‘Law & Order: LA’, and the latest, ‘Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders’, starring Edie Falco, which premiered in 2017.
Warren Leight was showrunner and executive producer of ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ from 2011-16. Previously he was showrunner and executive producer of HBO’s Peabody Award-winning ‘In Treatment’, the FX drama ‘Lights Out’ and the Edgar Award-winning ‘Law & Order: Criminal Intent’. Leight’s play ‘Side Man’ won the 1999 Tony Award for Best Play and was a 1999 Pulitzer Prize finalist.
‘Law & Order: Hate Crimes‘ has only just been announced so there is no UK pick up yet, but we’ll let you know when we hear something.
