List Of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Episodes - Law And Order Svu Episodes

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, the first-spin off of Law & Order, is an American police procedural television series that focuses on crimes of sexual nature. While the victim is often murdered, this is not always the case, and victims often play prominent roles in episodes. The series frequently uses stories that are "ripped from the headlines" or based on real crimes. Such episodes take a real crime and fictionalize it by changing the details. The series premiered on NBC on September 20, 1999, and started its eighteenth season on September 21, 2016.

Most episode titles of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit between seasons one and twelve are a single word or initialism. From seasons thirteen to seventeen, the pattern changed to one in which episodes have a two-word title with the number of letters matching the season number. From season eighteen, the episode titles follow no fixed pattern.

As of November 9, 2016, 395 episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit have aired.

Series overview

Episodes

Season 1 (1999â€"2000)

• Robert Palm leaves the show as executive producer.
• Michelle Hurd (Monique Jefferies) appears as a recurring character from episodes 1â€"13. She is then added to the main cast starting with the 14th episode.

Season 2 (2000â€"01)

• Stephanie March (Alexandra Cabot) and Ice-T (Fin Tutuola) join the cast.
• Michelle Hurd (Monique Jeffries) leaves the cast after the episode "Runaway".
• Neal Baer begins taking over as executive producer.

Season 3 (2001â€"02)

Season 4 (2002â€"03)

• BD Wong (George Huang) officially joins the cast.

Season 5 (2003â€"04)

• Stephanie March (ADA Alexandra Cabot) leaves the cast after the episode "Loss". Her character is "killed off" and put into the Witness Protection Program. March (Cabot) is replaced by Diane Neal as ADA Casey Novak in the episode "Serendipity".

Season 6 (2004â€"05)

• Stephanie March returns to reprise her role as ADA Alexandra Cabot for one episode ("Ghost"). Her character was a regular on SVU for seasons 2â€"5.

Season 7 (2005â€"06)

• Tamara Tunie (M.E. Melinda Warner) officially joins the cast.

Season 8 (2006â€"07)

• Connie Nielsen had a six episode arc as Det. Dani Beck from the episode "Clock" to the episode "Cage", not appearing in "Infiltrated".

Season 9 (2007â€"08)

• Adam Beach (Det. Chester Lake) joins the cast, then leaves with Diane Neal (ADA Casey Novak) at the end.

Season 10 (2008â€"09)

• Michaela McManus (ADA Kim Greylek) joins the cast after replacing Diane Neal (ADA Casey Novak) through the fifteenth episode, "Lead", where she is replaced by Stephanie March (ADA Alexandra Cabot) in a recurring capacity.

Season 11 (2009â€"10)

• Christine Lahti had a four episode arc as Executive ADA Sonya Paxton; from the season premiere episode "Unstable" to "Hammered". She also returns in the eighth episode, "Turmoil".
• Stephanie March rejoined the cast as ADA Alexandra Cabot starting with the episode "Hardwired" to the episode "Witness".
• Sharon Stone had a four episode arc as ADA Jo Marlowe from the episode "Torch" to the season finale episode "Shattered".

Season 12 (2010â€"11)

• Melissa Sagemiller has a continuous episode arc as ADA Gillian Hardwicke starting with the episode "Branded" to the episode "Bombshell".
• Diane Neal returns to reprise her role as ADA Casey Novak for one episode ("Reparations"). Her character was a regular on SVU from seasons 5â€"9.
• Neal Baer leaves the show as executive producer at the end of the season.
• Christopher Meloni (Det. Elliot Stabler), BD Wong (George Huang), and Tamara Tunie (Melinda Warner) leave the cast after the season finale ("Smoked").

Season 13 (2011â€"12)

• Warren Leight begins taking over as executive producer.
• Danny Pino (Det. Nick Amaro) and Kelli Giddish (Det. Amanda Rollins) join the cast.
• Stephanie March (ADA Alexandra Cabot) and Diane Neal (ADA Casey Novak) both return as recurring characters.
• Tamara Tunie (M.E. Melinda Warner) is moved from the main cast to a recurring role.
• BD Wong (Dr. George Huang) reprises his role in "Father Dearest" following his departure from the cast in July 2011.

Season 14 (2012â€"13)

• Raúl Esparza has a continuous arc as ADA Rafael Barba starting with the third episode.

Season 15 (2013â€"14)

• Raúl Esparza (ADA Rafael Barba) is promoted to the main cast.
• Richard Belzer (Sergeant John Munch) departs the main cast after the fifth episode.
• Dann Florek (Captain Don Cragen) departs the main cast after the eleventh episode.

Season 16 (2014â€"15)

• Peter Scanavino joins as a recurring guest for the first 3 episodes, playing Det. Dominick "Sonny" Carisi, Jr.. He is promoted to the main cast in the fifth episode.
• Danny Pino (Det. Nick Amaro) departs the cast after the season finale ("Surrendering Noah").

Season 17 (2015â€"16)

• Andy Karl has a continuous arc as Sergeant Mike Dodds starting with "Maternal Instincts" to "Heartfelt Passages".
• BD Wong reprised his role as Dr. George Huang in the episode "Depravity Standard". This was his fourth appearance on the show since his departure at the end of season 12.
• Warren Leight leaves the show as executive producer at the end of the season.

Season 18 (2016)

• Rick Eid begins taking over as executive producer.

Home video releases

Seasons 1â€"17 have been released on DVD by Universal Studios Home Entertainment. Seasons 1, 2 and 5 contain a number of bonus features including a documentary on the conception of the show, interviews with the cast and crew, a set tour, and profiles of real-life NYPD SVU detectives.

Note: Season 16 episodes "Chicago Crossover" and "Daydream Believer" are also released in the Chicago P.D. Season 2 DVD in the UK.

References

External links

• Episodes at the official site of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
• The NBC Law & Order SVU Production Blog
• Episodes at The Futon Critic
• Episodes on TVGuide.com
• Episode list at TV.com
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit DVD releases at TVShowsOnDVD.com