What To Know About Mariska Hargitay’s Law & Order Season 24 Crossover (DETAILS)
Captain Olivia Benson will be dropping by the franchise's original show for "a really meaningful role" in an upcoming Season 24 case.
A familiar face will soon be coming to Law & Order.
Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) will be dropping in on the franchises original show as part of a special crossover in Season 24.
Rick Eid, executive producer, showrunner and writer for Law & Order, confirmed the guest-star appearance to NBC Insider and disclosed some details.
"In Episode 2, we've got this newcomer to television named Mariska Hargitay who's kind of the guest star of our episode,” Eid joked. “She’s got a really meaningful role.”
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Hargitay is of course no stranger to Law & Order fans, starring on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as the beloved Benson for more than two decades.
During her lengthy tenure with the franchise, she’s also been known to pop up on both Law & Order and Law & Order: Organized Crime.
When will Mariska Hargitay's Law & Order Season 24 crossover air?
Look out for Captain Benson to show up in Season 24, Episode 2 of Law & Order, airing on October 10, 2024, and titled "The Perfect Man."
What will Captain Benson's Law & Order Season 24 crossover entail?
Captain Benson will show up in "The Perfect Man" episode after "the founder of an A.I.-infused dating app is murdered," according to the show's synopsis. “[Benson] has a pre-existing relationship with the defendant in this case,” Eid told The Wrap. “It’s really a big part of the episode. It felt organic to who Mariska’s character is, and it was an interesting element to the story that gave it another layer.”
Benson "surprises" the district attorneys working on the case "when she becomes a witness for the defense," the synopsis continues.
The episode will also see Elizabeth Marvel reprise her SVU role as Attorney Rita Calhoun.
New Amsterdam’s Ryan Eggold to guest star on Law & Order
Hargitay won't be the only member of the NBC family to make a guest-star appearance on Law & Order this season. Ryan Eggold — of New Amsterdam and The Blacklist — is also slated to appear in an early episode as Detective Vincent Riley’s (Reid Scott) brother.
Viewers will meet the character in Season 24, Episode 3, titled "Big Brother" and airing on October 17, 2024.
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“His brother gets wrapped up in one of our cases and we get to really learn more about Riley and definitely learn more about his relationship with his brother,” Eid told NBC Insider. “I think it’s a pretty interesting episode.”
Eid added that fans will meet Riley’s brother in “an interesting way.”
“Something we're sort of emphasizing this year is trying to learn more about some of our characters,” Eid told NBC Insider. “It's still Dick Wolf's Law & Order, and there's still compelling, topical cases every week and ethical and moral dilemmas every week, but we're trying, on certain episodes, to dig just a little bit deeper into who our people are and seeing how their personal lives intersect with their professional lives.”
After joining the NYPD's 27th Precinct last season, Riley’s relationship with partner and fellow Detective Jalen Shaw (Mehcad Brooks) also “continues to evolve” in the new season, Eid shared.
Both detectives will be dealing with another major shakeup at the precinct in Season 24, with the introduction of their new boss, Lieutenant Jessica Brady, played by Maura Tierney.
Brady will take the job previously held by Lieutenant Kate Dixon (Camryn Manheim). Eid promises that fans will learn more about Dixon’s fate in the Season 24 premiere.
“We’ll learn what happened, where she is,” he told NBC Insider.
Eid said that in Season 24, fans can also look forward to “a murder case that involves someone who’s not dead,” as well as IVF issues taking focus, that in Law & Order fashion, prompt moral and ethical discussions.
“Hopefully, we're finding a way to have meaningful cultural conversations about what's going on in society as we're tracking down the killer or the suspect,” Eid said.
Season 24 of Law & Order premieres on Thursday, October 3 at 8/7c p.m. on NBC. Episodes will also be available to stream the next day on Peacock.
