The Law & Order world feels whole again by this point in the 2025 TV schedule, thanks to the long-awaited arrival of Christopher Meloni’s Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5. While the new episodes are releasing via streaming for viewers with a Peacock subscription, OC’s guest stars in the first few episodes guarantee that it still feels part of the family with the NBC shows. In fact, with OC returning just as Law & Order: SVU crossed over with Law & Order for a two-parter, it was easy for me to compare, contrast, and decide that OC has the best approach for three similar shows in one TV universe.
Only three episodes of Organized Crime’s fifth season have released at the time of writing, but two of those three have included characters from SVU. Mariska Hargitay crossed over in Episode 2 as Olivia Benson in the wake of Stabler’s latest near-death experience, and the captain was only dragged into the case when she needed to keep him from pushing himself too hard. I’m historically not a Benson/Stabler shipper, but since her arrival on OC involved what Dean Norris described as the “most unsexy pickup line you can imagine,” what’s not to love about all their interactions?
Jet deciding to leave the OCCB and the shooting cliffhanger, but Peter Scanavino also crossed over from SVU as ADA Carisi. He didn’t drop any F-bombs on the Peacock show despite Scanavino’s thoughts on the matter, and his role in the episode was ultimately minor in the grand scheme.
But that was what really worked about it as an example of the kinds of crossovers that could make the Law & Order corner of the nine-show Dick Wolf TV universe feel more cohesive. These three shows aren’t like the One Chicago series elsewhere on NBC, where it makes sense for the first responders of Fire, healthcare workers of Med, and cops of P.D. to cross paths from time to time, but not regularly.
The FBIs over on CBS get away without many connections due to how they’re geographically separate, and even those will share Alana De La Garza as SAC Isobel Castille and Jeremy Sisto as ASAC Jubal Valentine from time to time. The Law & Order shows all are set in the NYPD, and it’s not like the 27th precinct only investigates murders, Special Victims only investigates sexually-based offenses, and the OCCB only investigates crime syndicates.
There should be more minor crossover to make the shows truly feel like they’re part of the same world outside of the occasional big crossover event. Even if the shows can’t share leads on a regular basis like the situation with Mariska Hargitay appearing in a lot of her Organized Crime episode, Carisi turning up on OC was both nice continuity with Season 4 and a good example of how the ADAs and law enforcement officers would overlap.
With SVU and Law & Order both still airing on NBC, it would be particularly great to see their characters meeting every once in a while, even if it’s just to pitch in on a case or testify in a case. It does happen sometimes, but I’m just going to keep hoping for more a la Organized Crime as the wait continues for NBC to announce renewals (or cancellations).
For now, keep tuning in to NBC on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET for Law & Order Season 24 and 9 p.m. ET for Law & Order: SVU Season 26. New episodes of Organized Crime begin streaming every Thursday as well. All three shows offer seasons streaming on Peacock.