Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
| Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | |
|---|---|
| Also known as |
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| Genre | |
| Created by | Dick Wolf |
| Showrunners |
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| Starring |
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| Narrated by | Steven Zirnkilton |
| Theme music composer | Mike Post |
| Opening theme | "Theme of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" |
| Composer | Mike Post |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 26 |
| No. of episodes | 573 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 40–44 minutes |
| Production companies | |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | September 20, 1999 – present |
| Related | |
| Law & Order franchise | |
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (often shortened to Law & Order: SVU or SVU) is an American police procedural crime drama television series created by Dick Wolf for NBC. The first spin-off of Law & Order, expanding it into the Law & Order franchise, it stars Mariska Hargitay as Detective (ultimately promoted to Captain) Olivia Benson, now the commanding officer of the Special Victims Unit after originally having been Stabler's partner in a fictionalized version of the New York City Police Department, and Christopher Meloni as Detective Elliot Stabler (until Meloni left the series in 2011 after 12 seasons). Law & Order: Special Victims Unit follows the detectives of the Special Victims Unit as they investigate and prosecute sex-based crimes. Some of the episodes are loosely based on real crimes that have received media attention.
The series, produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, premiered on September 20, 1999. After the premiere of its 21st season in September 2019, the series became the longest-running primetime live-action series on American television. Since the end of the original run of the main Law & Order series in 2010, SVU is the only live-action primetime series having debuted in the 1990s to remain in continuous production. The 23rd season premiered on September 23, 2021, during which the show aired its milestone 500th episode. As of May 15, 2025, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has aired 573 original episodes, well surpassing the episode count of the original Law & Order series. In terms of all-time episode count for a primetime scripted series, SVU now ranks fourth behind The Simpsons (with 785 episodes), Gunsmoke (with 635 episodes), and Lassie (with 591 episodes). The 25th season premiered on January 18, 2024, and on March 21, 2024, NBC announced that it had renewed the series for its 26th season, which premiered on October 3, 2024. In May 2025, the series was renewed for a 27th season.
The series has received 108 award nominations, winning 59 awards. Hargitay was the first regular cast member on any Law & Order series to win an Emmy Award when she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2006.