Law & Order & Law & Order: SVU are about to take a lengthy break on NBC

Law and Order and Law and Order: SVU have been NBC staples for over two decades. It's difficult to imagine the network without these two shows, even though another spinoff, Organized Crime, was recently demoted to streaming.

Both Law and Order and SVU will be airing its fall finales on Thursday, November 21. There will undoubtedly be unresolved storylines, and cliffhangers guaranteed to drive fans up the wall in the best possible way, but the question on everybody's mind going into a mid-season break is when the shows in question are slated to return.

Law & Order and SVU return on January 16

Well, thankfully, we have the answer. TV Line revealed the winter premiere dates for Law and Order and Law and Order: SVU. Both shows will return to NBC on Thursday, January 16. This means both shows will be off the air for roughly a month and a half.

It's not ideal, of course, but it's standard practice as far as procedural TV is concerned. One Chicago, the other franchise created by Dick Wolf, and one that has dominated a day of the week in very much the same way Law & Order has (Wednesdays and Thursdays, respectively), is following a very similar winter schedule.

The One Chicago shows will be airing their trio of fall finales on Wednesday, November 20, before returning on Wednesday, January 8. Many fans believe Law & Order: SVU has a leg up over its Windy City counterparts, however, due to the return of a beloved franchise character in the fall finale.

Kelli Giddish will return for the SVU fall finale

Kelli Giddish will be returning to the show as Amanda Rollins. It will mark her first appearance on the show since her return in October. SVU's fall finale also teased some tension between Rollins and the show's protagonist, Olivia Benson, played by Mariska Hargitay.

Rollins and Benson have historically been on the same page, but Giddish told Screen Rant that things are going to be different come the final episode of 2024:

"They've always been totally in sync, and now it's like, 'We have a little bit of a different objective here, and how are we both going to be happy?'"

SVU has also teased the death of another beloved character, Dominick Carisi, Jr. (Peter Scanavino) in the fall finale. Carisi being part of the show since 2013 is one thing, but the fact that he's also Rollins' husband makes his potentially untimely exit all the more tragic. We hope he pulls through. If not, it's going to be one long hiatus.