Dean Norris reveals why he joined Law & Order: Organized Crime cast

Dean Norris is TV royalty. The actor will forever be remembered as Hank from Breaking Bad, but he also logged memorable stints on NYPD Blue, 24, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. It was only a matter of time before he joined the Law & Order franchise, but the actor wanted to make sure that it was under the right circumstances.

Norris told Cinemablend that he's no longer at a point in his career where he's trying to work as much as possible, and can therefore be more selective with the parts he accepts. There were a couple main reasons why he decided to join the cast of Law & Order: Organized Crime as the older brother of Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni).

Norris wanted to reunite with showrunner John Shiban

The first was Meloni, with whom Norris had worked with on the 2014 film Small Time, and the second was showrunner John Shiban. The latter had cut his teeth on Breaking Bad, so Norris was excited by the possibility of collaborating on a different character:

"I mean, other than Chris Meloni, that's the reason for doing the show. John called and he said that we were going to be exploring the family relationships and stuff like that."

The familial angle is something that's more prevalent in Organized Crime than the rest of the Law & Order franchise. It was the thing that most intrigued Norris, and made him curious as to what he could bring to the table (literally and metaphorically) as an actor. "We were talking in some interviews about our [Stabler family] dinner scene," he explained. "That's a quintessential kind of John Shiban type thing, and it was great."

Organized Crime hasn't been renewed yet

Organized Crime is not hurting in the quality department, as evidenced by the show's ability to draw in talent like Norris, but it is struggling in terms of viewership. It's the lowest rated title in the franchise, and it has not yet been renewed for another season by NBC.

There's hope that Organized Crime will either get the green light from the network or be moved to Peacock, where it will continue as a streaming show. Either way, we hope to see more from Stabler and company.