‘Law & Order: SVU’ season 18 spoilers: ‘Making a Murderer’ inspired episode coming

Even though “Law & Order: SVU” may be switching showrunners from Warren Leight to Rick Eid for the upcoming 18th season, there is one thing that is certainly remaining constant: The presence of storylines ripped from the headlines.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Henry Thomas (“E.T.”) is going to play on an upcoming episode a convicted rapist who is later exonerated due to a DNA test. However, he will be the subject of another investigation by Fin after he is tied to another crime that led to someone’s death. Kelli Williams of “The Practice” is also going to appear, and she will have been the woman who originally labeled the character as the rapist.

This episode is inspired by the Steven Avery case in “Making a Murderer,” which has become a global sensation in addition to being a huge success story for Netflix, even to the point where they are making another season to further explain the latest developments in the case. We understand why “SVU” would want to do a story inspired by this case in some way, given that it is inherently a complicated case and also that you get a chance to try and bring casual viewers back into the show. This is one of the primary purposes of many of these episodes, and we do often find that it works for them in terms of the ratings.

The premiere of season 18 months away, but rest assured we will have some other news on some upcoming stories as they come out.

(Photo: NBC.)