NBC Orders ‘Law & Order: For the Defense’ To Series
Just in case you were worried about the lack of Dick Wolf procedurals on tv right now, NBC has commissioned another one, as the US network hands a series order to ‘Law & Order: For the Defense‘.
The new series, from two-time Emmy Award-winning producer Dick Wolf, will take an unbiased look inside a criminal defense firm. The series will put the lawyers under the microscope, along with the criminal justice system with every week delivering the promise of a contemporary morality tale.
Carol Mendelsohn (‘CSI’) is set to serve as showrunner and executive producer, along with Wolf, Arthur Forney, Julie Weitz and Peter Jankowski. The series will be produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, and Wolf Entertainment.
“This new show is exciting for me personally,” commented Wolf. “We spent the last 30 years on shows that played offence. Now it will be great to play defence, and being able to do it with Carol is an honour and an opportunity for both of us to do television that hasn’t been done before.”
This new show will join ‘Law & Order: SVU’, which is currently in its 22nd season, and hold the record for the longest-running live-action series in the history of US television; And ‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’, which has just given NBC their largest launch numbers for a debut series in 2.5yrs, and sees Christopher Meloni return as Elliot Stabler, who is now the head of an organised crime task force.
“We can’t wait to bring audiences the latest chapter of ‘Law & Order,’ which will explore a different angle of the criminal justice system,” adds Lisa Katz, President, Scripted Programming, NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “We’re excited about Dick Wolf’s perpetually thought-provoking approach as well his collaboration with Carol Mendelsohn, who we have been eager to do a series with for a long time.”
In the UK, ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ airs on Sky Witness alongside Dick Wolf’s other massive hits, the ‘Chicago’ franchise, and the ‘FBI’ franchise. Law & Order: Organized Crime’ has yet to be picked up here, but you have to assume Sky Witness will be eying it for pick up. The same will likely go for this new spin-off, but we’ll let you know when we hear more.
