Is It Ever Too Soon for Stars to Play Different Characters in the Same TV Universe? (POLL)

Dylan McDermott as Richard Wheatley in Law & Order Organized Crime
Scott Gries/NBC

TV universes are growing and growing and growing as more spinoffs are made and crossovers join worlds (even on different networks, as seen with Dick Wolf’s One Chicago and Law & Order on NBC and FBI on CBS). So stars playing different characters on even tangentially connected shows seems inevitable. But is it ever too soon?

Soon after Julian McMahon announced his exit from FBI: Most Wanted after almost three seasons (with his last episode to air March 8), Dylan McDermott joined as the new lead (with his first episode set for April). Character details have yet to be revealed. The only problem, if you want to call it that? McDermott currently recurs on Law & Order: Organized Crime — connected to his new show via SVU via Chicago P.D. via FBI — as villain Richard Wheatley. (He was a series regular in Season 1 of Christopher Meloni’s spinoff.) It’s possible that McDermott could be on our TV screens as Richard Wheatley and the FBI agent he’ll be playing in the same month and even possibly the same week, depending on scheduling. (FBI: Most Wanted airs Tuesdays at 10/9c, Organized Crime Thursdays at 10/9c.) So is that kind of fun or too soon?

Here’s the thing: Just because someone watches Organized Crime doesn’t mean they also tune in to FBI: Most Wanted, but the shows are similar enough (and again, both part of Wolf’s universe) that at least some people are probably fans are both. And let’s be honest: McDermott’s Richard Wheatley is a very memorable character. He’s not just in Detective Elliot Stabler’s (Meloni) head. He’s the kind of character that stays with you, and that will likely remain true no matter how Organized Crime writes him out.

Also coming up: the return of Law & Order, for its 21st season. (It originally went off air in 2010.) Three series regulars from the NBC drama are currently full-time as different characters on Chicago Med (S. Epatha Merkerson) and FBI (Jeremy Sisto and Alana De La Garza). But years passed in the interim. That makes a difference.

Given how long some of these procedurals can last — and the spinoffs that can come about — it’s not too surprising that it happens. After all, there have been actors in the NCIS universe (and from JAG) who have played multiple memorable characters. (Mark Harmon’s son, Sean Harmon, played the younger version of Gibbs on NCIS before guest starring on Los Angeles as part of the team’s case-of-the-week.) But there does seem to be a difference when it’s a character in a few episodes and one that played a prominent role on the series or in an arc.

So now we’re asking you: Do you think it’s ever too soon for someone to play different characters in the same TV universe? Let us know in the poll below.