The show premiered on September 20, 1999. After the premiere of season 21 in September 2019, the series became the longest running American live-action series in television history[5] and the only primetime series to debut in the 1990s and is still producing new episodes. As of October 21, 2021, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has aired 500 original episodes, surpassing the number of episodes of the original Law & Order series. In terms of episodes for a prime-time series, SVU now ranks fourth behind The Simpsons (with 710 episodes), Gunsmoke (with 635 episodes) and Lassie (with 591 episodes). In February 2020, the series was renewed for its 24th season. [6] [7] Season 22 premiered on November 12, 2020. [8] The 23rd season premiered on September 23, 2021,[9] in which the series celebrated its 500th anniversary. [10] [11] As of mid-2020, select seasons of Law & Order may air on Peacock with Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Chicago Med, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. Unlike some shows on Peacock, such as some seasons of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which are free, access to Law & Order requires a paid subscription to Peacock.

Executive producer Neal Baer left Law & Order: SVU as showrunner at the end of the twelfth season, after eleven years (seasons 2–12) on the show, to sign a three-year contract with CBS Studios.[93] Baer was replaced by former Law & Order: Criminal Intent showrunner Warren Leight.[20] In March 2015, it was announced that Warren Leight had signed a three-year contract with Sony Pictures Television, allowing him to work on CSR for another season, the seventeenth. [22] On 10. In March 2016, it was announced that original Law & Order veteran Rick Eid would take Leight`s place as showrunner for season 18. Creator Dick Wolf told The Hollywood Reporter: „I`m thrilled that Rick has decided to join the family and hope he`ll be here for years to come.“ During post-production of season 18, after it was announced that SVU had been renewed for a nineteenth season, it was announced that Rick Eid had left the show.[23] He will tackle another Dick Wolf/NBC series, Chicago P.D.[24] On March 31, 2020, it was announced that NBC had ordered an untitled spin-off series for the 2020-21 television season, with Christopher Meloni reprising his role as Elliot Stabler. Meloni left SVU in 2011. The first half of each episode usually followed the regular cast of police officers as they investigated a crime, their efforts leading to the arrest of a suspect. In the second half of the episode, the plot and perspective shifted to the Manhattan District Attorney`s Office as prosecutors prepared their case and made their way to court. Most of the show`s cases were inspired by actual crimes or trials that were „ripped out of the headlines,“ but the events of the show were purely fictional. Law & Order`s split structure was based on high stakes and complex cases that posed myriad problems for investigators and prosecutors.

The longevity and success of Law & Order has spawned six American television series (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, Law & Order: Los Angeles, Law & Order True Crime and Law & Order: Organized Crime) and a TV movie (Exiled: A Law & Order Movie), all of which use the name Law & Order.