The wait continues for Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 to arrive on Peacock, even as Law & Order and SVU‘s premieres are approaching in the 2024 TV schedule. Fortunately, we now have some exciting news about the cast for the next batch of episodes after the move to streaming. Dean Norris, who recurred in the fourth season of OC, has been promoted to series regular status for the upcoming fifth season, and I’ve flashed back to what the actor told us about the Stabler family earlier this year.
Dean Norris arrived on Organized Crime in the second episode of Season 4 as Randall Stabler, delivering the very first interaction between Stabler siblings since Elliot (Christopher Meloni) debuted on SVU back in 1999. Deadline confirms that Norris will indeed be back on OC as a series regular this time around. There has been no announcement at the time of writing about Michael Trotter returning as Joe Jr. or Ellen Burstyn as Bernie Stabler, but I for one am excited that more of Randall is on the way.
The actor – for whom Organized Crime was a Breaking Bad reunion with showrunner John Shiban – spoke with CinemaBlend back in the spring, prior to the renewal news and around the time of Randall and Elliot staging an ill-advised intervention on their brother. There were still weeks of new episodes left in Season 4 at that point, but I revisited my conversation with him following the series regular news, and his comments about the Stabler family hit me even harder now. Dean Norris addressed the failed intervention on Joe Jr. at the time, saying:
Randall’s whole thing is that he’s now decided that he wants to try to get back, maybe not consciously, but he’s trying to get back the family that he hasn’t had for twenty years. So I think he thought, hey, he had a great idea, let’s do this intervention, it should go well. But now he’s thinking, ‘Oh, okay, things are gonna be a little bit more complicated than just saying we’re gonna make it happen.’ And I think this kind of reset some of that, and I think he doubles down. Randall learned a lot, and he’s gonna not let that stop him… He’s not going to quit his brother at this point.
Even though Randall, Elliot, and Joe Jr. all went through the wringer even more in subsequent episodes, the sense of Randall trying to “get back” his old family dynamic didn’t fade away. That may not exactly be possible now with Joe whisked away by drug and weapons dealer Emery, Bernie’s memories fading, and Eli expecting a baby with his girlfriend, but I can easily imagine Randall continuing to try and bring the family closer together in Season 5 for Peacock Premium subscribers. Maybe I’ll even finally get my wish of seeing Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson stop by OC from SVU to meet a Stabler brother!
When I spoke with Dean Norris back in the spring, he also shared how he, Christopher Meloni, and Michael Trotter created their dynamic as brothers in Season 4, saying:
We have [all spent time together], but also Mike and I both have worked with Chris before and I think that’s something that’s always nice to bring into any scene or any kind of storyline. If you’re friends, it’s hard to fake that. So it’s nice when you have that element, and you get to do it all together. And then we’ve definitely hung out over the time that we’ve been doing this stuff.
Admittedly, the three men didn’t always perform scenes that were particularly friendly between their characters, but still! All in all, the confirmation of Dean Norris as a series regular makes me more optimistic than ever that Season 5 could go full Breaking Bad, and I don’t mean just because he spent half a decade as Hank Schrader on that show. Now I’m just hoping for news sooner rather than later about Michael Trotter coming back, even if it’s just a social media reveal like what Danielle Moné Truitt delivered recently.
As the wait continues for Law & Order: Organized Crime to return, you can always revisit the first four seasons streaming on Peacock. Thursday, October 3 will also bring Law & Order Season 24 and Law & Order: SVU Season 26 to NBC with their fall premieres.
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