“Order” Restored?

It seems like only yesterday that we were saying a tearful farewell to Law & Order, NBC-TV’s “ripped from the headlines” crime drama, after its 20-year run. However, that series’ retirement is coming to an end already, according to In Reference to Murder:

Eleven and a half years after NBC abruptly canceled Law & Order [in the spring of 2010], denying its shot at making TV history, the network is bringing back Dick Wolf’s Emmy-winning series for a new season, its 21st.

NBC has greenlit a new installment of Law & Order, from Wolf and writer-showrunner Rick Eid, which will continue the classic bifurcated format and will once again examine “the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.” There is no cast announced yet, but the new season is expected to feature beloved characters from the original series, with Sam Waterston’s Jack McCoy believed to be at the top of the wish list.

Deadline adds, however, that “No premiere date for the new season has been set, and it’s unclear whether the show will be ready for midseason. The series, produced by Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, in association with Wolf Entertainment, would presumably be slotted alongside SVU and Organized Crime for a Law & Order Thursday lineup to go along with Wolf’s FBI Tuesday on CBS and One Chicago Wednesday on NBC.”