The planned Law and Order SVU spin-off at NBC of the popular crime franchise is no longer moving ahead at NBC. The proposed series wanted to explore the trials and tribulations of a criminal defense team but, sadly for fans, they won’t see it come to fruition.
Dick Wolf, creator and producer behind the Law and Order franchise, had hoped For The Defense would be a deep dive into the criminal justice system, as well as examining the lawyers prosecuting.
In April, the new spin-off was ordered straight to series on NBC and was slated to be released later this year.
The news series was expected to follow the Thursday night lineup of season two of Organized Crime and SVU’s monumental 23rd season.
Since the announcement of For The Defense, speculation had been rife as to which SVU characters will return for the new series.
Many hoped to see beloved former ADA Rafael Barba (Raúl Esparza), lawyer Nikki Staines (Callie Thorne), and defense attorney Trevor Langan (Peter Hermann) in the spin-off.
Despite the series not moving forward, there is another spin-off in the works, titled Law and Order: Hate Crimes.
Viewers are hoping For The Defense’s cancellation will make it more likely the second spin-off series will move ahead as planned.
Hate Crimes has been given a 13 episode order and was to make its debut on Law and Order SVU with a backdoor pilot.
The series suffered a setback in 2019 when NBC announced the project will be redeveloped to “flesh out the concept” and revealed an SVU introduction would no longer be happening.
Last year, Wolf was handed a positive update as the new spin-off was part of a multi-year deal contract and hinted the show will likely be moving to streaming service Peacock instead, but details remain scarce.
Though, the newest series appears to have softened the blow of losing For The Defense as one fan stated on Twitter: “I’m sad that for the defense isn’t happening but I’m glad there’s another spin-off in the works.”
