‘Law and Order SVU’ Season Premiere: Five Things To Know About Tonight’s Show

NBC’s favorite long-running crime drama is coming back tonight. The Law and Order: SVU Season Premiere is finally upon us, and will come to NBC tonight at 9:00PM EST. Created by Dick Wolf as a spin-off to his much-beloved Law and Order series (which has since become one of the longest-running television series in history), SVU has actually surpassed the popularity of the original series, thanks in no small part to the work of Mariska Hargitay, daughter of Hollywood bombshell Jayne Mansfield, as the beloved Sgt. (now Lieutenant) Olivia Benson.

Tonight’s show will mark the 18th Law and Order: SVU Season Premiere, and with this in mind, we’ve come up with this list of five things you need to know before the show:

1. Tonight’s show will pick up one month after the death of Mike Dodds
Season 17 ended with the cast dealing with the death of Mike Dodds (played by Andy Karl), and in tonight’s Law & Order: SVU Season Premiere, new showrunner Rick Eid confirms that his death is still weighing heavily on everyone’s mind. As he told the International Business Times:

“We’re not super time-specific, so it’s not like it’s time-coded, but maybe a month or so after the death of Mike Dodds (Andy Karl) in Season 17, that’s how the finale ended. That is still weighing heavily on the SVU team and certainly the character of Benson. We pick up from there. It’s not the day after, some time has passed, but obviously the tragedy has not passed. So we pick up emotionally from that place.”

2. Benson’s got a whole new set of problems
It wouldn’t be a Law and Order: SVU Season Premiere without a new set of problems for the long-suffering Olivia Benson, and Movie News Guide reports that this Law and Order: SVU Season Premiere will be no different. According to the outlet, the show — titled Terrorized — will focus on a young boy that faces off against Benson before trying to unleash a mass killing in Manhattan. In addition, Benson will now be working with a joint terrorism task force.

3. But don’t worry, Benson’s love life is still alive and well
According to E! News, the Law and Order: SVU Season Premiere will prominently feature the romance between Benson and the much-detested Tucker (played by Robert John Burke). Tucker, who’d earned the ire of the squad when he was part of Internal Affairs, is now part of the Conviction Integrity Unit, and he and Olivia have just returned from Paris. Aw!

4. The rest of the squad isn’t going anywhere… yet
Even though one of the most obvious traits of SVU is that it has a revolving cast of characters (which, arguably, is what makes the show work so well — because it evolves with the times, and thus doesn’t become dated), it doesn’t look like the rest of the squad is going anywhere with this Law and Order: SVU Season Premiere. Det. Amanda Rollins (Kelli Giddish), D.A. Rafael Barba (Raul Esparza), and Det. Fin Tutuola (Ice-T, fresh off of his hilarious Geico ad) are all back this season, and it doesn’t look like they’re going anywhere, yet.

5….and neither is Mariska Hargitay
One of the nicest things about this Law and Order: SVU Season Premiere is that we’ll be seeing our favorite Lieutenant, Olivia Benson, who is the only cast member to stay with the show for all 18 seasons. Hargitay has told several outlets, in several contexts, that she is very passionate about the work she does on the show, and she will continue to stay with the show for as long as she possibly can.

The Law and Order: SVU Season Premiere airs tonight on NBC.

[Featured Image by Rommel Demano/Getty Images]