‘Law & Order’ Boss Previews ‘SVU’ Crossover and Benson & Brady Conflict

Law & Order fans get a treat on April 17: A crossover with SVU (the last was in September 2022) pairing the Manhattan North Homicide and Special Victims units led by Lieutenant Brady (Maura Tierney) and Captain Benson (Mariska Hargitay).

“The episodes will feel like a two-hour movie,” says L&O showrunner Rick Eid, “while it’s still in keeping with Law & Order‘s format of the police investigating a crime and the attorneys prosecuting the offenders. We’ll also find the DA’s office conversing with detectives as they get closer to arresting a suspect, and some of our detectives will take the stand in court.”

What precipitated the crossover now? As Eid explains, “Mariska filmed a few scenes with us at L&O earlier this season, and we knew we wanted to see Maura and Mariska together again on the screen. So both writers’ rooms came up with a storyline in mind, which also teamed up our lead ADAs Price and Carisi [played by Hugh Dancy and Peter Scanavino] for some terrific courtroom moments.”

The first hour opens when Benson gets a mysterious call from a person who says she’s a pedestrian and wants to report a woman’s brutal murder, but, says Eid (who wrote the episode with Art Alamo), “she hangs up before Benson can find out who she was or how she got her number. … Benson hurries to the crime scene and meets up with [Homicide’s] Det. Riley [Reid Scott], and the mystery of who this anonymous caller is, and who the murder victim is, begins.”

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Though the crime took place in Brady’s jurisdiction, Benson caught the case and the leaders decide to combine forces to stop the killer, as the bodies of “marginalized women,” start piling up. Despite both these leaders “seeking justice for the victims,” their differing styles of leadership, may produce a bit of conflict. “Benson and Brady have the same goal,” Eid explains, “but may not always arrive at it in the same way.”

Meanwhile, SVU’s newest detective, Silva (Juliana Aiden Martinez), “puts her previous homicide experience to good use [impressing] Det. Riley,” Eid reveals, “and ADAs Price and Carisi team up to take on a formidable opponent in court when Rita Calhoun [Elizabeth Marvel] represents the [alleged killer].”

After, catch a special airing of Peacock’s Organized Crime Season 5 opener at 10/9c on NBC.

Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, 8/7c and 9/8c, NBC