It’s a done deal — NBC’s Law & Order: Organized Crime starring Christopher Meloni has been renewed for a fifth season, which will be streaming exclusively on Peacock. As Deadline previously reported, Season 5 is expected to consist of 10 episodes, less than what the Wolf Entertainment series produced for NBC under normal circumstances but on the high end of an original streaming series whose seasons typically consist of 8 episodes. John Shiban is returning as showrunner.
The move gives the NBCUniversal streamer an original Dick Wolf drama series to go with the Wolf library and next-day runs of the company’s remaining NBC series Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Chicago Med, Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU, which are among the platform’s most viewed titles.
Created by Dick Wolf, Matt Olmstead and Ilene Chaiken, Law & Order: Organized Crime follows the detectives of the Organized Crime Control Bureau, led by SVU‘s Elliot Stabler (Meloni), as they take on New York City’s most vicious and violent criminal syndicates.
Likely because of its subject matter and serialized storytelling, the series has performed below the five other Wolf dramas in linear ratings on NBC while doing well on Peacock.
This is the second series in the Law & Order franchise to transition to another platform after starting on NBC. L&O: Criminal Intent ran on USA Network for four additional seasons after the initial six on NBC.
Organized Crime — whose first four seasons consisted of 8 episodes after a spring launch (S1), 22 (S2-3) and 13 for the strike-impacted S4 — is executive produced by Wolf, Shiban, Paul Cabbad, Meloni, Jon Cassar, Arthur W. Forney and Peter Jankowski. Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, produces in association with Wolf Entertainment.
With the official announcement of L&O: Organized Crime‘s move, the fate of all current NBC scripted series has been determined ahead of the network’s fall schedule reveal tomorrow and NBCUniversal’s upfront presentation Monday.
The Season 4 finale of Law & Order: Organized Crime airs Thursday, May 16 at 10:00 PM on NBC (streams next day on Peacock).