‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’ Gets 6th Showrunner in 3 Years

Martin Holmes October 20, 2023, 9:16 am

Christopher Meloni on Law & Order: Organized Crime — Virginia Sherwood/NBC

Law & Order: Organized Crime‘s search for a new Season 4 showrunner is finally over as Ozark executive producer John Shiban is set to take the reins of the NBC crime drama.

The move comes after constant reshuffles at the top of the Christopher Meloni-led series. Since premiering in April 2021, the show has already gone through five showrunners.

Chicago Fire EP Matt Olmstead was originally the writer/showrunner for the spinoff but stepped down in October 2020 before the show had even made it to air. The L Word co-creator Ilene Chaiken replaced him, but she only made it halfway through Season 2 before being replaced by Hannah Montana co-creator Barry O’Brien, who stood in as interim showrunner.

Law & Order: SVU exec producer Bryan Goluboff succeeded O’Brien but only lasted three months before Project Blue Book EP Sean Jablonski took over for the third season. Jablonski departed after six months due to creative differences, with Law & Order: SVU’s David Graziano stepping in to oversee the last three episodes of the season.

Tommaso Boddi/WireImage

Shiban, who served as an EP on the last three seasons of Netflix’s Ozark, will now helm the show for Season 4. The Emmy-nominated writer began his career as a staff writer on The X-Files and has also worked on acclaimed series such as Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and Hell on Wheels as both a writer and director.

He also served as showrunner on Hulu’s drama series Shut Eye, which he took over from David Hudgins for the second season. The show premiered on March 20, 2017, and was canceled after two seasons on January 30, 2018.

Law & Order: Organized Crime is scheduled to return midseason on NBC, and fans will be hoping Shiban’s appointment will bring some stability to the show.

Given Shiban’s track record with highly-regarded crime dramas such as Ozark and Breaking Bad, he should make a perfect fit for a show centered on the detectives of the Organized Crime Control Bureau in New York City.

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Shiban has written episodes of television that were praised for their high tension, such as the Breaking Bad episode “Sunset,” which featured the tense scene where Walter White (Bryan Cranston) was almost caught by his brother-in-law Hank (Dean Norris) while trapped in his RV at a scrapyard.

He also penned the Ozark episode “Boss Fight,” which featured an imprisoned Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman) after he’s kidnapped by Navarro (Felix Solis). This episode earned Shiban both an Emmy and WGA Award nomination.

So viewers should expect increased stakes and highly intense situations for Detective Elliot Stabler (Meloni) and his team in this new era of the show.