Law & Order: SVU season 19: Chicago Justice showrunner steps in
According to a report com Variety, Michael Chernuchin has the gig moving into the upcoming season, and this shouldn’t be a surprise given his long-standing connections to Dick Wolf and Wolf Films. He’s worked on multiple iterations of the Law & Order franchise before landing the showrunner job on Chicago Justice, and knows the style and rhythm of this show better than almost anyone.
When you think about the timing of this announcement, it is probably not beyond the realm of possibility to wonder if SVU waited to see if Chicago Justice was going to be renewed before making this decision, likely knowing that this was the person that they were going to want to hire for the gig. It does make a tremendous amount of sense for them to do so, and he can step in right away understanding the character and the world. There’s been almost a game of Musical Chairs going on within Wolf Films this past month, given that SVU showrunner Rick Eid is moving over to Chicago PD to work in that same post moving into the new season over there. Eid has one of the biggest challenges imaginable, knowing now that Sophia Bush is departing the show and may only return for a small arc to wrap up Lindsay’s story.
The new season of SVU will be premiering this fall on NBC, but work on the episodes will beginning a long time before that. After all, filming starts up over the course of the summer, and scripts will need to be ready for the first few episodes before that. This is a show that has a lot of challenges ahead for it trying to meet the demands of longtime fans and to stay relevant in an ever-changing world. Chernuchin is a smart and very-talented guy, and we’ve got a ton of confidence that he is the right man to take on this job.
What do you think about the hire, and do you have any specific hopes for the upcoming SVU season? Share some thoughts now in the attached comments!
(Photo: NBC.)