Law & Order Renewed for Season 26 at NBC

NBC is renewing Law & Order for a 26th season, with an official announcement expected imminently.
The renewal came down to the wire, with the show sitting on the bubble alongside Brilliant Minds and The Hunting Party.
Season 26 will not be designated as the final season, keeping the door open for future renewals.
The cast — Tony Goldwyn, Hugh Dancy, Maura Tierney, Reid Scott, and Odelya Halevi — is expected to return.
NBC will unveil its full 2026-27 fall lineup to advertisers at its upfront presentation on Monday.

Law & Order is coming back. NBC is finalizing a Season 26 renewal for Dick Wolf’s flagship procedural, with an official pickup expected as soon as Friday — just days before the network presents its fall lineup to advertisers at its upfront event on Monday.

According to Deadline, which first reported the news, the renewal came uncomfortably close to the wire. The mothership series had unexpectedly landed on the bubble this season alongside sophomore dramas Brilliant Minds and The Hunting Party — a surprise given that the show had seemed to hit its creative stride, particularly in its current run, after a somewhat rocky relaunch following a 12-year absence from the air.

Law & Order was always considered the most likely of the three to survive. Brilliant Minds has already been canceled after two seasons. The Hunting Party is still in contention, buoyed in part by a Netflix run that boosted its streaming numbers on Peacock. But for the original Law & Order, there was another factor working in its favor that no network executive could easily ignore: history.

Why NBC Wasn’t Going to Cancel This One Quietly

The show was famously axed without warning in May 2010 — a shock cancellation that left no room for a proper goodbye. NBC eventually brought it back after a 12-year break, and the lesson from that saga seems to have stuck. As Deadline noted, it’s hard to imagine the network canceling an iconic series like Law & Order twice with no advance notice or sendoff. Fans who lived through the first cancellation have made clear they’d want a real conclusion if the show ever does end — and NBC appears to be listening.

For now, that ending isn’t coming. Sources tell Deadline that Season 26 will not be designated as a final season, which means the franchise’s future remains open-ended.

There may be some belt-tightening ahead. Budget cuts have become standard practice for long-running broadcast dramas with established casts, and details on any trims are still reportedly being worked out. That said, Law & Order has always run leaner than some of its Wolf Entertainment siblings — this season featured just five series regulars: Tony Goldwyn, Hugh Dancy, Maura Tierney, Reid Scott, and Odelya Halevi.

Where Law & Order Fits in NBC’s 2026-27 Lineup

Season 25 wraps on Thursday, May 14 on NBC, so the Season 26 news lands right at the finish line. When the new season arrives — likely sometime in September or early October, based on the show’s typical scheduling — it’ll join a returning NBC scripted slate that includes Chicago Fire Season 15, Chicago Med Season 12, Chicago P.D. Season 14, Law & Order: SVU Season 28, Happy’s Place Season 2, St. Denis Medical Season 3, and The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins Season 2.

SVU had already locked in its renewal. Organized Crime, by contrast, was canceled. And with Brilliant Minds now gone too, the original Law & Order — the one that started it all — is heading into its 26th year.

The show is executive produced by Dick Wolf, Rick Eid, Pamela Wechsler, Alex Hall, and Peter Jankowski, and is produced by Universal Television in association with Wolf Entertainment. The full fall schedule details are expected when NBC makes its upfront presentation Monday — so the exact premiere date and time slot should come into focus very soon.