Law & Order and SVU Have Been Renewed, But Will Budget Cuts Ruin Their Next Seasons?

If you’re a Law & Order fanatic, NBC has good news for you — both Law & Order and SVU have been renewed.

Sadly, there’s no news yet on Law & Order: Organized Crime, which is only halfway through its season on Peacock.

Hopefully, we’ll get good news soon. In the meantime, I’m worried about the budget cuts NBC is making as part of the renewal deal.

Law & Order Will Probably Have Worse Budget Problems Than SVU

Budget cuts are a concern for both shows in the franchise, but Law & Order: SVU often manages to produce each episode for a relatively low price despite all the factors that should make it one of the most expensive shows on TV.

It is filmed in New York City, has been on for a long time, and has two big stars at its helm, yet Deadline reports that it only costs between five and six million dollars per episode.

That may sound like a lot, but it’s cheap for a show like Law & Order: SVU!

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Conversely, Law & Order has a big cast and many well-known stars, and it is much more expensive to produce, so budget cuts will hurt it more.

However, SVU isn’t immune to being asked to save money.

Two cast members have already been cut, with their last episode airing when the Law & Order: SVU Season 26 finale airs on May 15.

I Hate Cast Rotation Policies, But They’re Most Likely Going To Happen Again

One of the ways NBC traditionally saves money on long-running shows is by using cast rotation.

This is a policy where each actor is only guaranteed to be in a certain number of episodes.

Actors — including main characters — are written out temporarily during certain stories so that the network doesn’t have to pay them.

Sometimes the disappearances are story-driven, but other times a character temporarily disappears with no explanation whatsoever.

Cast rotation is a bad policy for continuity, especially if absences aren’t explained until after the character returns.

This policy is undoubtedly why Shaw (Mehcad Brooks) was absent from several episodes of Law & Order Season 24, with the explanation that he was “out sick.”

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No further details about his illness were given, and he seemed fine when he returned.

This policy may also explain why characters like the departing Kate Silva weren’t fully developed on Law & Order: SVU.

The budget didn’t allow her to appear in as many episodes as it would have taken to establish her character.

Cast Rotation Is Better Than Cutting Main Cast Members

Look at the whole Rollins debacle on Law & Order: SVU.

Rollins was cut in the middle of Law & Order: SVU Season 24 because the series couldn’t afford Kelli Giddish.

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But she’s a popular character, and the move angered many SVU fans, so the series had to find a solution.

Now Rollins appears several times a season, but in most cases, does nothing of note because it would be too expensive for her to carry more than one episode a year.

I had hoped that Giddish would be rehired full-time for Law & Order: SVU Season 27, but that’s not likely with the budget cuts for the new season.

Instead, the series will either hire yet another new detective who disappears after a season or leave Benson’s squad room short-staffed.

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Who Would Law & Order Even Cut?

Law & Order’s cast is already very lean, even if some of them are big stars who probably drive up the expense.

There are two cops and their supervisor, and two ADAs and their supervisor.

Cutting any of these people would be a terrible idea. The series’s tried-and-true formula of a police investigation followed by a legal case simply won’t work if all the pieces aren’t on the board.

I suppose big stars could be replaced with lesser-known ones. I hope they don’t do that.

We already replaced Sam Waterston and Camryn Manheim on Law & Order Season 24, so if we start endlessly changing main cast members, the series will lose credibility.

Hopefully, cast rotation will be enough to save money, because the next step is cancellation, and nobody wants that.

What Do You Think, Law & Order and SVU Fanatics?

Let’s keep the conversation going — it’s the only way the good stuff survives.
Your voice matters. Use it in the comments to share your opinion about these renewals.

Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU air on NBC on Thursdays, starting at 8/7c, and stream on Peacock on Fridays. Their season finales will air on May 15, 2025.

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