‘Law & Order: SVU’ season 18: Gary Cole unsure Donald Trump-inspired episode will air

Do you remember seeing the promo for the “Law & Order: SVU” episode entitled “Unstoppable” a little ways back? This was an installment that was “ripped from the headlines” and based, at least loosely, on Donald Trump prior to him winning the Presidential Election. Gary Cole (“Veep,” “The Good Wife,” many other great shows) was the much-promoted guest star for the episode, but now, it’s future remains somewhat unclear. It was first delayed until after the election, and then until the new year. Now, it remains off the schedule, and it is not entirely all that clear that the episode will ever air.

This is a sentiment that is echoed in many ways through some of Cole’s own words. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, he did his best to explain why he feels like there’s a good chance that NBC will never put it on:

“The fact is, probably, I don’t know that anyone’s ever going to see this anyway … I don’t know that the outcome was expected. I think maybe the thinking was that the outcome was not going to be this outcome and they would show it at some point, but now you’re in a whole different ballgame.”

Cole added that it was clear upon reading the script for the episode that his character was inspired by Trump, a political outsider who comes from the world of real estate. If the episode aired, it would undoubtedly draw controversy, which may be one of the things that NBC is most afraid of. Yet, this is not a biographical retelling of Trump’s life, and we do always lie within the camp of “art should not be silenced.” We do hope that viewers eventually get a chance to see this episode, even if it is not made available until it arrives on DVD or in a streaming format a little bit later this year after season 18 wraps its run. Cole, coupled with the rest of the cast and crew, put so much work into this that it would be a shame to see that go to waste.

Photo: NBC