The Law & Order franchise is expanding into hate crimes.
NBC announced Tuesday the network has ordered 13 episodes of Law and Order: Hate Crimes, according to Deadline.
The series from Law & Order creator Dick Wolf and former Law & Order: Special Victims Unit showrunner Warren Leight will be set in New York.
“As with all of my crime shows, I want to depict what’s really going on in our cities and shine a light on the wide-ranging victims and show that justice can prevail,” Wolf said in a statement.
He added: “Twenty years ago when SVU began, very few people felt comfortable coming forward and reporting these crimes, but when you bring the stories into people’s living rooms – with characters as empathetic as Olivia Benson – a real dialogue can begin. That’s what I hope we can do with this new show.”
Read More: ‘Law and Order: SVU’ Started a ‘Cultural Shift,’ Mariska Hargitay Says
The new series will be based on the real-life NYPD Hate Crime Task Force, which investigates crimes and bias incidents involving race, religion, gender, disability and sexual orientation.
The task force is part of the NYPD’s Special Victims Division. With that in mind, the new series will be introduced on the upcoming 20th season of SVU.
“As Law & Order: SVU enters its remarkable 20th season, it is exciting to get back into business with Dick Wolf on a new Law & Order incarnation that feels extremely timely,” said Lisa Katz, Co-President of Scripted Programming, NBC Entertainment. “Considering that last year there was a double-digit rise in hate crimes in our 10 largest cities — the highest total in over a decade — it seemed like this topic is begging to be explored.”
Law and Order: Hate Crimes will premiere in 2019.
