Law & Order: SVU will add another year to its record run on NBC.
The network has formally announced a 28th season for the show, extending SVU’s mark as the longest-running primetime drama ever on American television. Sources confirm that the renewal for 2026-27 has been in place for some time but hadn’t been made public before Wednesday.
The news comes on the heels of another L&O series, Organized Crime, being canceled after five seasons on NBC and Peacock. NBC has yet to make a decision on the future of the Law & Order mothership, which is in its 25th season and fifth after a 2022 revival.
A 20th season of SVU will push the show past the 600-episode mark (it will end this season with 594) and within striking range of Gunsmoke’s record of 635 for a primetime drama. The western, which ran from 1955-75, produced more than 30 episodes per season for its first 11 years — the norm in TV at the time.
The Law & Order: SVU cast is led by Mariska Hargitay, who has been with the series from its inception. Ice-T, Peter Scanavino, Kelli Giddish, Kevin Kane, Aimé Donna Kelly and Corey Cott also star.
Michele Fazekas serves as showrunner and executive produces SVU with Dick Wolf, Hargitay, Kenneth Brown and Peter Jankowski. Universal Television produces the series in association with Wolf Entertainment.
Along with Law & Order, NBC has yet to decide the futures for dramas The Hunting Party and Brilliant Minds — though the latter was pulled from the schedule and will wrap up in the summer — and first-year comedies Stumble and The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins. NBC also ordered more pilots than in recent years, which will vie for places on the 2026-27 schedule.
Keep track of all broadcast renewals, cancellations and new series orders with THR’s network scorecard for 2026.
