Law & Order: SVU season 20: Mariska Hargitay, cast celebrate milestone

You may have to wait still until the fall in order to see Law & Order: SVU season 20 premiere — but you don’t have to wait to celebrate! The cast and crew certainly are now.

The Instagram post via series star Mariska Hargitay offers up a good sense of what we are talking about here, as she and several other cast members recently attended a celebration of the achievement with many people behind the scenes that matter the most. In some ways, we also consider this to be a mental celebration for SVU fans all over the world that helped the series to get to the point that it is. It’s not easy to get five seasons of a show on the air, let alone one that ties the record for the longest-running scripted drama series out there.

What’s also exciting about SVU at the moment is the simple fact that it is likely not going anywhere in the immediate future. NBC hasn’t necessarily renewed it for a season 21 just yet, but it is a staple of the network’s primetime lineup and its ratings have held on incredibly well over the years. There is a new challenge entering season 21 in that the timeslot is shifting to Thursday nights at 10:00 p.m. Eastern, but we don’t view this as a sign of weakness; instead, it’s a vote of confidence. This is clearly a timeslot that NBC feels is vulnerable with How to Get Away with Murder slipping and SWAT not being a huge warrior in the 18-49 demographic. They may feel like there is a great opportunity here to snag some consistent wins in the demo — if that happens and the cast of SVU wants to keep making more episodes, more than likely Hargitay’s series is going to break the record set by Law & Order and Gunsmoke outright.

What do you want to see on Law & Order: SVU season 20? Let us know right now below!

(Photo: NBC)