Law and Order: Organized Crime pulled from NBC 2020 fall schedule

Chicago PD co-creator Matt Olmstead exits Law and Order: Organized Crime

Law and Order fans will have to wait a bit longer than anticipated for Christopher Meloni’s return to the franchise as the lead of NBC’s new series Law and Order: Organized Crime.

As first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Chicago PD co-creator Matt Olmstead has exited the series and is no longer attached to the series as its showrunner. While an exact reason behind Olmstead’s exit is unclear, The Hollywood Reporter hints that Olmstead chose to exit the highly anticipated series due to “challenges cracking the show’s creative.”

In wake of Olmstead’s unexpected departure, NBC has pulled the series from its fall schedule as it focuses on finding a new showrunner to oversee the project. As for Olmstead, following his exit, it is expected he will move to another Wolf Entertainment produced program.

Law and Order: Organized Crime was to be Olmstead’s first key role with Wolf Entertainment since 2017, when he departed Universal under a two-year deal with ABC Studios where he had a hand in the launch of ABC’s Stumptown. Prior to his departure in 2017, Olmstead served as a showrunner on Chicago Fire, helped to co-create and run Chicago PD and helped with the development of Chicago Med.

When will Law and Order: Organized Crime premiere on NBC?

Setting its tentative fall schedule, NBC’s original plan for Law and Order: Organized Crime was for the series to premiere as part of its Thursday night line-up. In looking to create a Law & Order block, NBC moved Law and Order: SVU up to the 9/8c time slot with Law and Order: Organized Crime slated to air immediately after at 10/9c.

In wake of Olmstead’s exit from the series, it remains unclear when exactly Law and Order: Organized Crime will premiere on NBC; however, it seems likely we can rule out a 2020 release for the series now that it has been pulled from the fall schedule.

Although the debut season of NBC’s latest Law and Order spinoff is not expected to premiere as part of NBC’s fall line-up, sources report NBC is still looking to debut the show as part of its 2020-21 season making it likely the show will premiere as part of its midseason lineup in the spring.

For the latest Law and Order: Organized Crime spoilers and news, plus more on all of Dick Wolf’s other series, follow the Dick Wolf category at One Chicago Center.