Production on NBC’s highly-anticipated Law & Order spin-off series Law & Order: Organized Crime shut down this week as a result of a positive COVID-19 test among the cast and crew, marking the second time such delay occurred since the show resumed production in 2021. According to Deadline, the positive COVID-19 test originated from “Zone A, which includes the cast and those in direct contact with them.”
“Temporary production shutdowns have become the norm while filming during the pandemic,” Deadline reports, though Law & Order’s latest spin-off has had a particularly rough time getting off-the-ground since the onset of the virus. The series, notable for the return of Christopher Meloni (Happy!, Man of Steel) as Detective Elliot Stabler, was meant to debut in March 2020 and have a crossover episode with Law & Order: Special Victims Unit that featured a long-awaited reunion between Meloni and Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit).
Production shutdowns pushed Law & Order: Organized Crime’s premiere back to 2021 and likewise pushed back the special crossover event, both will now air on April 1. A teaser trailer at the beginning of the month hyped up the delayed reunion between Meloni and Hargitay, who co-starred on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit for 12 season before Meloni’s departure from the series.
Law & Order: Organized Crime’s premiere will air in conjunction with the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit crossover event on April 1. The procedural series will see Detective Elliot Stabler “[take] apart the city’s most powerful criminal syndicates one by one” all-the-while adjusting to “a criminal justice system in the midst of its own moment of reckoning” (TVGuide).
According to Deadline, it’s unclear how long Law & Order: Organized Crime’s latest COVID-19 related delay will last or whether it will further impact the series’ already disrupted schedule.