The nineteenth season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit premiered on September 27, 2017 and ended on May 23, 2018 with a two-part season finale. Michael S. Chernuchin, who previously worked on Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Chicago Justice, succeeded Rick Eid as showrunner. It is also the first season since the twelfth season in 2010-2011, in which another Law & Order series – Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders – aired alongside NBC`s SVU. On December 14, 2017, Martin Donovan and Yasmine Al Massri were confirmed as guest stars in an episode titled “Flight Risk,” based on allegations of sexual abuse by Harvey Weinstein. [26] The episode focused on sexual assault in the aviation industry and aired on January 17, 2018. Mike Faist, a Tony Award-nominated actor as Connor Murphy in the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen, played a young man struggling with his sister`s disappearance long ago in “Complicated.” [19] The Walking Dead alumnus Brighton Sharbino played a teenage girl who disappears when her classmates are subjected to a cyberbullying attack. Madison Pettis also starred in the episode titled “No Good Reason,” which aired on NBC on October 18, 2017. [20] Another Broadway star, Christiane Noll, guest in the episode “Unintended Consequences” as Sarah Curtis “After 19 years on the air, I will finally be a guest star in episode #19006 of Law & Order: SVU! I`m really excited because this is my first big guest role,” Noll told Playbill.

[21] Peter Scolari starred alongside Noll in “Unintended Consequences” as Dr. Dennis Barkley. In October 2017, THR announced that Melora Walters and Joanna Going would be guest stars in a special episode of SVU (“Something Happened”). Walters played rape victim Laurel Linwood, who knows she was raped but doesn`t remember what happened. Going played Laurel`s sister, Leah, who is brought to fill in the gaps. [23] Law & Order: Special Victims Unit was renewed for a 19th season on May 12, 2017. [1] Chernuchin took over as showrunner after Eid left SVU to become showrunner of the fifth season of Chicago P.D. [2] Production of the season began on July 20, 2017. [3] On January 9, 2018, NBC ordered two additional episodes for season 19, as confirmed in a tweet from Robert Brooks Cohen, rounding up the number of episodes to 24. [4] The entire main cast from the previous season has returned. In August 2017, it was announced that Philip Winchester would reprise his role as Assistant District Attorney Peter Stone of Chicago Justice midway through the season. New showrunner and executive producer Michael Chernuchin told Entertainment Weekly that Stone`s character would come as an antagonist and that he would be a counterpoint to A.D.A.

Barba (Raúl Esparza) this season.[9] Stone`s character doesn`t necessarily take his [Barbas] job. “There is more than one ADA in New York … Philip will come and he won`t be the nicest person our characters have ever met. What he`s also going to do is get all the franchises into one. It connects Law & Order, Chicago franchises and now SVU. His character debuted in the thirteenth episode of the season.[11] In the thirteenth episode, Raúl Esparza leaves the cast after six seasons in the series.[12] He told Entertainment Weekly`s Natalie Abrams it was her decision to leave, adding: “I did six seasons, I felt it was time to leave. I had done a lot of research on what I thought Barba was. I just felt it was time to move on. Philip Winchester took his place as the permanent ADA of the series, guest star in the last episode of Esparza before joining the main cast in the fourteenth episode 14 .

On September 20, 2017, it was announced that Sam Waterston would appear in an upcoming episode of SVU as his Law & Order character Jack McCoy. Waterston reunited with showrunner/EP Michael S. Chernuchin, who held the same position when Waterston joined the original series in 1994; Chernuchin is considered the creator of the character McCoy. This was Waterston`s fourth appearance in CSR. [24] In the episode “Pathological”, Tamara Tunie (M.E. Melinda Warner), Carolyn McCormick (Dr. Elizabeth Olivet) and Jenna Stern (Judge Elana Barth) as their respective characters. [25] The episode aired on January 10, 2018. McCormick also had a guest role in the season finale.

On August 11, 2017, The Hollywood Reporter announced that actress Brooke Shields would play a “major” recurring role during the season. “I`m playing a very different character than any I`ve played,” Shields said. “I can`t wait to shake the CSR pot a little.” THR noted that details of his role are kept under wraps, despite teasing that Shields` role “will shake up the world of Benson (Mariska Hargitay).” [10] At New York Fashion Week on the 7th. In September 2017, Shields spoke of his “complicated” character; “We`re discovering the character,” she said at the time about her mysterious recurring role, “she`s pretty complicated and it`s heartbreaking. What`s amazing about the show is that the characters are so rich and multi-layered and they filter me. Shields also noted that his character was to appear in the third episode (“Contrapasso”) of the season. In the final scene of this episode, Shields` character is exposed as Noah`s unknown grandmother, Sheila Porter, who challenged Benson for custody before becoming friends.[15] Her story arc ended in January 2018, when Sheila kidnapped Noah in a cliffhanger episode before being caught and arrested by Benson and the team. The 400th episode of the series aired this season. “Motherly Love”, directed by Mariska Hargitay, was released as 400th Motherly Love. However, due to the mixing of episodes over the course of the season, the episode aired as the 399th episode.

The 400th episode to air was the eleventh episode of the season, “Great Expectations,” which aired on NBC on February 15, 2017 (after being moved from the original airdate of November 9, 2016 and a second airdate of January 4, 2017).