Contains spoilers, so you've been warned.
So Barba exits, and Peter Stone from the now defunct Chicago Justice will take Barba's place. This was news to me, but apparently it was foretold WAY back in August of 2017.
I guess Michael Moriarty told them once and for all NO to returning to the character of Benjamin Stone. It would have been nice to have seen Stone Jr AND Sr on screen. Alas.
Great seeing McCoy again.
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Reply by Knixon
on September 27, 2020 at 4:18 PM
Wasn't Moriarty getting rather loony, and that's why he "left?" I've read that he was claiming to have actually gone to law school, etc. Thinking he was really his character.
Reply by bratface
on September 27, 2020 at 7:15 PM
There are different stories as to why he left. Here are a couple of articles on the subject.
https://www.distractify.com/p/why-did-michael-moriarty-leave-law-and-order
https://www.looper.com/171395/the-real-reason-these-law-order-actors-left-the-franchise/
Reply by RodimusConvoy
on September 27, 2020 at 10:34 PM
Regardless he can't come back now. Peter Stone's first SVU ep was him speaking at his father's funeral.
Peter stayed, what, two seasons, then bounced. So now we'll probably never see Peter Stone again either. Guess the actor wasn't popular. Though to be fair I'm enjoying Caressi as the new ADA.
Reply by bratface
on September 27, 2020 at 10:57 PM
I didn't like Stone, especially on Chicago Justice. The character was just unlikeable. I stopped watching SVU on a regular basis a few years ago, partly because it was so repetitive but mainly because I didn't like the Amanda Rollins character. I did like Carisi though. I think I'm also in the minority when comes to Stabler, I hated that guy.
Reply by RodimusConvoy
on September 27, 2020 at 11:45 PM
I still don't like Rollins so you're not alone there. I'm also annoyed they seem to be heading toward a Rollins/Carisi pairing.
As for Stabler...I thought Stabler was more mellowed out in his final years. I guess that was in case Meloni finally pulled the trigger and said I'm done, which eventually happened (season 12 finale). He wasn't the hothead he was in the earlier seasons. I think people remember that Stabler more than the later version.
So what all that said, it'll be very interesting to see that later version of Stabler back (I'm guessing with a full goatee). Before covid the idea was to have the season 22 premiere be both his return and the backdoor pilot for Law & Order: Organized Crime, but that's changed. It'll still happen it'll just no longer be the season premiere. And I'm guessing Stabler, hopefully with some sort of promotion, will be leading the Organized Crime unit. Stabler in command writes itself so...kinda excited I must say.
Reply by RodimusConvoy
on September 28, 2020 at 1:47 AM
...naw. NBC, they learned the hard way that's not sustainable long term with Shades of Blue. Plus that would be compounded by taking a character people have been begging to return for years since he left, only to make him dirty?
I think the idea is to go the Greys Anatomy/Station 19 route: constant crossovers. Follow me a moment:
The cryptic blurb is something like "a tragedy in Stabler's life brings him out of retirement." Every season, Olivia has had a love interest that never lasted, including the topic of this very thread. Peter felt he couldn't do his job properly because of burgeoning feelings for Olivia so he...quit or got transferred, I forgot which. If all of Elliot's kids are grown and doing their own thing by now, and all that was left was him and his wife, but (and this is me guessing here)_ his wife dies_, he may feel he has no choice but to return to work, putting him right back into Olivia's orbit. And that brother and sister dynamic they had will be harder to maintain now that he's single by way of being a widower.
Multiple birds, multiple stones (pardon the pun lol). SVU can't go on forever, so they're setting up its replacement. We get to continue to see this world via L&O:OC. Olivia gets her "endgame" in Stabler, also satisfying a lot of fans that wanted to see them together anyway (note I'm actually not one of them, I just see the writing on the wall).
Heck I could be dead wrong and they do exactly what you suggested...I just seriously doubt it. I think they're thinking long term potential here. NBC, or SVU, or both, aren't about risk taking that can backfire.
Reply by bratface
on September 28, 2020 at 3:08 AM
My fav Olivia pairing was with Cassidy, second would be David Haden. The worst was with that d*ck from IAB, Tucker. I never understood her relationship with a guy that had been the 'bane of their existence' for most of the show.
Reply by RodimusConvoy
on September 28, 2020 at 4:53 AM
Yeah I liked Olivia with Cassidy, too.
Reply by bratface
on October 2, 2020 at 3:45 PM
Uh oh?
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/chris-melonis-law-order-svu-spinoff-delayed-at-nbc-amid-showrunner-change-exclusive
Reply by RodimusConvoy
on October 2, 2020 at 4:58 PM
Well a showrunner is very important, it can sink or swim a show. So good on them for delaying the show until one is found.
Here's where it gets interesting though:
Long before Law & Order: Organized Crime became a reality, the hubbub was SVU would have a L&O spinoff subtitled "Hate Crimes". Talk about that stopped once Meloni and "Organized Crime" was announced, and I assumed they just decided to change the name from Hate Crimes to Organized Crimes.
But that article says the current SVU showrunner is also the showrunner for Hate Crimes, so BOTH L&O spinoffs are still happening, but Hate Crimes will apparently air exclusively on Peacock due to language. I found hits for that, and that the show is put on indefinite hold. So somehow, even though OC came second, its further along than HC, and I'm guessing Leight is still writing for HC in the hopes that HC will see the light of day eventually. So I guess that's why he can't write for OC until a new showrunner is found.