Law & Order and its spinoff, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, will tackle two separate but real-world controversies in their new season’s premiere episodes.
For Law & Order, its first episode of season 26 will investigate a murder involving artificial intelligence.
The episode description read, “A software engineer’s murder sends Riley (Reid Scott) and Walker (David Ajala) into the rapidly evolving world of A.I.”
“As Baxter pursues justice in a groundbreaking case, he’s confronted with a technology advancing faster than the laws designed to govern it.”
Rick Eid, who served as showrunner, said, “We try to capture the cultural zeitgeist, and artificial intelligence is clearly top of mind these days.”
“What’s shocking about this technology is that it’s moving so quickly. This episode went from something that felt almost like science fiction to something that feels totally plausible — in only a few months.”
The Law & Order: SVU first episode of season 28 will focus on a sexual assault on a woman who was intoxicated.
As its first episode of the season, the description reads, “When a sexual assault victim struggles to prove her case in court, Benson (Mariska Hargitay) pursues a controversial strategy to make sure her voice is heard.”
“A meeting with a jury consultant leads Benson down a path that threatens her partnership with Carisi (Peter Scanavino).”
Michele Fazekas, who is the series’ showrunner, said the timing of the first episode’s story is relevant to how the alleged sexual assault case is unfolding at Cornell University.
Fazekas said, “When the Cornell lawsuit became more widely known, I was horrified, but I wasn’t surprised. The central legal issue in our episode is how the law is written.”
“It’s part of why law enforcement declines to prosecute in cases like this, and I hope that’s something that is talked about more.”
Law & Order: SVU airs on Peacock, then Law & Order on Oct. 8 on NBC and then the next day on Peacock.
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