A new teaser for Law & Order: Organized Crime offers a look at the iconic Law & Order character Donald Cragen’s return to the series. The universe of the Law & Order franchise frequently features characters and events that cross over from one show to another. This started with the debut of the first spinoff, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which was so popular it has ended up outlasting the run of the original show by many seasons and is still on the air. Many of Law & Order‘s most popular characters come from the SVU lineup, including Christopher Meloni’s Elliot Stabler. Meloni left the series after season 12 in 2011, but recently reprised the role in Organized Crime, which sees Stabler rejoining the NYPD following the murder of his wife.

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After the premiere of Organized Crime in April 2021, the series began to cross over more and more with SVU in order to reunite Stabler with his longtime partner, Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay). This also led the Organized Crime crew to interacting with the other characters from SVU, including Sonny Carisi (Peter Scanavino) and Christian Garland (Demore Barnes). Season 2 of Organized Crime, which began airing in September 2021 and is currently running, pulled out all the stops, bringing in even more well-known characters like Rafael Barba (Raúl Esparza), Stabler’s mother Bernie (Ellen Burstyn), and Finn Tutuola (Ice-T).

Today, NBC released a promo for Law & Order: Organized Crime season 2, episode 17, which airs on April 7, 2022. The episode, titled “Can’t Stop the Hustle,” will be the first appearance of SVU character Donald Cragen (played by Dann Florek) on OC. It seems that the episode will see Stabler approaching Cragen for advice on sussing out corruption in the police force and figuring out who should be a mole to help them take down a massive criminal organization. Check out the video below:

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Donald Cragen is a major figure from SVU, having appeared on over 300 episodes. He is the captain of the Special Victims Unit and a former alcoholic who started his run on the very first episode of the series, after being introduced in the original Law & Order and leaving the show after season 3. His stint on SVU lasted many seasons, though he left after season 15 when his character retired, returning for brief appearances in seasons 16 and 23. His most recent appearance on any Law & Order show was the 500th episode of SVU in 2021, but before that, it had been 6 years since he’d played the character.

It seems like Cragen’s stint on Law & Order: Organized Crime will be a one-time deal. However, given the increasing crossovers between OC and SVU, there’s a chance that he will be returning to visit the team from SVU from time to time in the coming months. Whether or not he does, however, fans of the series will certainly be delighted to see him back on the scene for another episode.

Source: NBC

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Brennan Klein
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Brennan (he/him) is a senior writer at Screen Rant and a millennial who knows more about 80’s slasher films than he has any right to. A former host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, Brennan has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror films) for a decade.

Brennan’s interests also include the Muppets, bubblegum pop from around the world, and reading (especially Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, the manga of Junji Ito, and novels of magical realism). His favorite film directors are Wes Craven and Pedro Almodóvar.

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