Law & Order Boss Tees Up ‘Brady On Fire’ In Explosive SVU Crossover, Teases Walker-Centric Episode And ‘Veep’ Alum Guest Star In Back Half Of Season
Keep your new year’s revelry brief: It’s almost time to get back to work with New York’s (fictional) finest.
“Law & Order” Season 25 and “Law & Order: SVU” Season 27 both return to NBC on Thursday, Jan. 8, at 8/7c with a two-hour crossover event that doubles as both series’ winter premiere. In the first hour, titled “Snowflakes,” an injured woman goes missing from the hospital, and Brady happens to be a witness to the crime. After Brady partners with the Special Victims Unit, the official episode summary tells us, “an explosive discovery puts both squads in danger.”
In the second hour, titled “Purity,” the hunt for a murder suspect “uncovers a crime with shocking legal and ethical implications,” the synopsis reads, and a raid on a suspect’s home puts Bruno and his team at risk. Also: “Carisi and Price team up in court when Brady’s interrogation tactics undermine the case.”
In advance of both series’ return, I talked with “Law & Order” showrunner Rick Eid, who offered TVLine the lowdown on Benson and Brady’s latest team-up. As a bonus, we got some scoop on an upcoming Walker-centric episode (check out the exclusive behind-the-scenes photo below) and a guest spot by an actor familiar to “Veep” fans. Read on to see what he had to say.
TVLINE | Tell me about what went into getting Lt. Jessica Brady and Capt. Olivia Benson together again for the upcoming crossover.
[Maura Tierney, who plays Brady, and Mariska Hargitay, who plays Benson] both like working together. So it was just like, let’s get these two powerful women together, working together, seeing it from different perspectives. It’s one of those things you talk about and then you go, “Oh let’s try to break this story with that in mind.” It kind of came together, and we ran with it.
TVLINE | There are lots of explosions in that trailer. You packed a lot of action into these two hours. Would you say there are more action sequences in this crossover than we normally see?
When you try to do these two-hour, movie-type things, there’s a certain amount of energy and action and “event” to it, [that] you need to pull off. We try to make these crossovers events. They’re obviously different than a typical episode of “Law & Order” or “Law & Order: SVU.” We try to elevate the storytelling, elevate the production. I guess that’s a long way of saying: Yes, there are a lot of explosions and action sequences. [Laughs]
