NBC moves Law & Order into Hate Crimes

Law & Order: SVU is into its 20th season on NBC

US broadcast network NBC is expanding its Law & Order franchise with a 13-part series about hate crimes from the original’s show’s creator, Dick Wolf.

Law & Order: Hate Crimes has been co-created by Wolf and former Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU) showrunner Warren Leight and is based on New York’s real-life Hate Crimes Task Force.

The show is being produced by Wolf’s US prodco Wolf Entertainment in association with Universal Television. Wolf and Leight are executive producers, along with others including Peter Jankowski and Arthur Forney.

The show will follow the Hate Crimes Task Force, which in real life works under NYPD’s Special Victims Unit, as it attempts to enforce policies against all types of discrimination.

Characters from the forthcoming Hate Crimes series, which will again be set in New York City, will feature in the current Law & Order: SVU show, which is in its 20th season.

Lisa Katz, co-president of scripted at NBC Entertainment, said the new incarnation “feels extremely timely.”

“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,” she added.

Hate Crimes marks the seventh incarnation of the Law & Order franchise, following the original show which launched in 1990. Other spin-offs include Trial By Jury, LA and True Crime, the latter of which launched last year.

Wolf is one of TV’s most prolific creatives, having also been behind the Chicago franchise and forthcoming series FBI for CBS.