The weeks are counting down until the Law & Order action returns to NBC in the new year, and a killer new video hyped all three of the shows. The Stabler family is expanding on Organized Crime in the 2024 TV season with the introduction of Elliot’s brothers, and now a Breaking Bad alum is on board. The casting is so perfect that not only can I not wait to see him opposite Christopher Meloni, but I need to see his character interacting with SVU‘s Benson.
Dean Norris, best known for playing DEA Agent/mineral enthusiast Hank Schrader on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, joins Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 4 to play Randall Stabler, according to TVLine. Randall is Elliot’s older brother who became a successful real estate developer after parting ways with the rest of the family many years ago. Personally, I can’t wait to see the dynamic that Norris and Christopher Meloni bring to Randall and Elliot’s relationship, as both have plenty of TV experience.
Randall’s relationship with Elliot is tense due to something that happened involving their father, but details on that are unknown at the time of writing. Considering what OC has revealed about Stabler’s dad over the years, I’m not surprised that there are complicated feelings between the siblings about him! And as I noted when the news first broke that Organized Crime is bringing more Stablers into the mix, it’s really my SVU dream come true.
Christopher Meloni of course spent more than a decade as Detective Elliot Stabler on Law & Order: SVU, opposite Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson. Now, more than a decade after he left SVU, Benson is an NYPD captain who very understandably needed the better part of three seasons to get back to a good place with her former partner. (No, I’m still not over Stabler giving Benson The Letter written by his wife!)
But Benson was privy to a lot of the Stabler family drama, and close enough to his kids that they recruited her to help with his intervention back in the early days of Organized Crime. If anybody deserves to meet the long-absent Stabler brother in his return to New York, it’s her! Do I want to see this because it would mean at least a little bit of a crossover between OC and SVU in the new year? Maybe, but I’d love to see Mariska Hargitay opposite Dean Norris after so many years of Benson dealing with Stabler drama.
Besides, if any show in the Law & Order franchise is going to deliver some interpersonal drama from week to week, it would have to be the more serialized Organized Crime. Dean Norris also isn’t the only newcomer to OC in Season 4, as former Breaking Bad producer, writer, and director John Shiban is the latest showrunner. Another Stabler brother is on the way as well, although Joe Stabler Jr. – the younger brother of Elliot and Randall – has yet to be cast.
Meet the Stabler brothers when Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 4 premieres on Thursday, January 18 at 10 p.m. ET on NBC, following Law & Order: SVU Season 25 at 9 p.m. and Law & Order Season 23 at 8 p.m. You can also find all three shows streaming now with a Peacock Premium subscription.