Law & Order: SVU season 20: Elementary alum directing April 4 episode
In a post on Twitter today, the show’s official writers room confirmed that former Elementary star Lucy Liu is directing an installment entitled “Dearly Beloved,” which is airing on the network come April 4. (You can see her name on the slate in one of the images.) This is not Liu’s first foray into the directing world — far from it, in fact. She previously directed six episodes of Elementary over its run and beyond that, she also directed an episode of Luke Cage and then also USA’s Graceland. She’s shown herself to be more then capable of taking on a wide array of different genres, so no doubt she totally slayed this episode. She’s also got some great people around her to support her ever step of the way (which every great director has), and given that Elementary also filmed in New York City she is more than a little bit familiar with her surroundings. This episode is in very good hands!
There is another worthy question to wonder and it revolves around the presence of Shiri Appleby in one of the photos — could she be turning up on-screen? There has been no official word of the UnREAL alum’s return to SVU, but typically actors aren’t just showing up on-set in the middle of the winter for the heck of it. Shiri previously played the role of Coast Guard ensign and assault survivor Amelia Albers in an episode years ago; given the propensity for actors within this world to come back in different roles, you can’t just assume that Appleby would be playing Albers again in the event she does turn back up.
CarterMatt has covered extensively why this happens, most recently with our report on Titus Welliver’s big return to the show — it’s a function of SVU wanting great actors (and if you haven’t seen him on Bosch we highly recommend you check that out over on Amazon!)! Think about it this way — if you’re in New York City, you want the best pizza you can find, but you also recognize that there are a lot of good pizza places. You want to try as many of them as possible, but sooner or later you’re going to revisit some of the pizza places you know are the best. The same goes with casting — if you have a chance to bring in someone like Appleby who you know is great, are you going to shy away from that just because you’ve already had her on the show? Not a chance!
Let’s get back to the title…
What does “Dearly Beloved” mean within the context of SVU? The common use of the expression is during a wedding ceremony, but really it can be used for a number of Christian services. It’s not necessarily a happy term, so it’s best to not get overly fixated on that idea … especially because we know that SVU is not a particularly happy show. It’s a show that can give hope at times, but it’s more about tackling darkness and the hope to find justice amidst all of the pain.
If you haven’t seen it yet…
Check out the synopsis for the upcoming March 14 episode, entitled “Missing”:
03/14/2019 (10:00 PM – 11:00 PM) (Thursday): The SVU pursues a suspect when a child is discovered in the trunk of an abandoned car. Starring Mariska Hargitay, Ice T, Kelli Giddish, Peter Scanavino, and Philip Winchester. Guest starring Brian Sheppard (Soren West), Violet McGraw (Bailey Shaw), Amanda Leigh Cobb (Paige Black), Chloe Webb (Rowan Mauer) and Jim Schubin (Emerson Mauer). TV-14 D, L, V
Excited to see Lucy Liu direct Law & Order: SVU?
Be sure to share right now in the comments. (Photo: NBC.)