Law & Order: SVU season 19. Philip Winchester promoted to series regular
Winchester has been promoted to series regular in his role as Assistant District Attorney Peter Stone, and he will be a major part, at least, of the remainder of this season. As for beyond that, we’ll just have to wait and see if the show gets renewed and what viewers end up thinking about this character. Winchester was first announced to be joining the show for an arc last summer, but last night he made his debut while Raul Esparza made his departure. There are opportunities for Esparza to be back at some point in the future, but for now the series is moving on and will challenge itself in some new and exciting ways.
For Peter Stone, the challenge coming up feels pretty clear: Trying to figure out a way in which for Olivia Benson and himself to get on the same page. The two did not have the friendliest of introductions on this past episode, as Stone fought for putting Barba behind bars; meanwhile, Olivia wanted to do everything in her power to save her friend, who acted in a way that he considered to be ethically sound. We do think that there will be some more opportunities for common ground coming up just because these two should be operating with some of the same goals, but we only hope that viewers give the two time.
People who watched Chicago Justice will probably be more than fine with the quick transition, given that they already know and care about Stone from that show. Meanwhile, showrunner Michael Chernuchin (who ran Chicago Justice before coming over to SVU) also has experience working with him. The larger challenge here is going to be getting the SVU fans who don’t know the Stone character on board with him. Barba is a fantastic character and out of all of the ADAs that the series has had, he may very well be the best — his character was so distinct, and the relationship that he had with Olivia was one of almost-perfect push and pull.
Have more of a take on Winchester becoming a series regular on SVU? Be sure to share some more of your thoughts now in the comments!
(Photo: NBC.)