‘Law & Order: SVU’ season 17: See Mariska Hargitay, Kelli Giddish, more in new poster!

Sometimes, simple is best, and this is what NBC is going with for their first-look season 17 poster for “Law & Order: SVU.” We have a reminder that “these are their stories” (you know that line very well thanks to the opening of every episode), and you also get a good look at most of the primary cast members including Mariska Hargitay, Ice-T, Kelli Giddish, Peter Scanavino, and Raul Esparza.

So where is Danny Pino? For those who have not heard, the actor behind Nick Amaro departed the show at the end of season 16, which means that the series is going with a tighter and smaller core cast for at least the time being. This is actually one of the smallest core of main characters that we’ve really seen over the course of the entire series’ run, and it could feel even more think when Kelli Giddish goes on maternity leave at some point during the season.

Of course, there are definite advantages to having a smaller group of core characters. You will get to know many of them better for one, and the show will probably be a little more affordable to go along with it. In this age of the bottom line, you want to do what you can to ensure that the series does remain on the air for as long as the people involved want to make it.

As the poster indicates, the show is going to premiere on September 23, and we can tell you that it will be a shocking two-hour episode that will take on a variety of different topics. At least part of the story could be based off of the infamous Robert Durst case.

(Photo: NBC.)