The Upcoming Season of ‘Law & Order: SVU’ Plans to Address George Floyd’s Murder and Police Brutality
NBC’S Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU) is notorious for covering real-life events. Showrunner Warren Leight shared SVU’s upcoming season will feature the death of George Floyd, the protests that followed, police brutality, and even the coronavirus outbreak.
Warren Leight announced episodes to come during his interview with The Hollywood Reporter’s TV podcast. During Leight’s interview, he claimed George Floyd’s death “has to come up.”
“And it will. It’ll come up when we arrest somebody … The second the cops on the street arrest someone now, the cameras are out, and we’ve played that beat a number of times. And what does that capture? We will find our ways in to tell the story, and presumably our cops will still be trying to do the right thing, but it’s gonna be harder for them, and they’re gonna understand why it’s harder for them.” said Leight.
Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died in Minneapolis on Memorial Day after a white police officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes, sparking nationwide protests against police brutality.
Warren mentioned that this past season they tried “really hard” to highlight racial injustices. However, as Leight stated, “it wasn’t enough.” “This has to be a moment where people make themselves uncomfortable — where people in power have to make themselves uncomfortable,” he added.
Serious question. How would Benson handle what’s going on with the NYPD? I’ve asked myself that this week. What would SVU do to make this better. #LawandOrderSVU
— Shane Acree (@ShaneAcreeKy) June 6, 2020
Leight also discussed his feelings on the portrayal of television cops. He believes after what is currently taking place in our Country we will begin to see less of romanticizing police brutality such as aggressive interrogations.
“There are shows with flawed cops at their center, and this… I don’t mind a show with a flawed cop at the center but a flawed cop with a tendency to violence that’s glorified to me is a real recipe for legitimizing police brutality. And that’s what I see the most that disturbs me.”
Season twenty-two is said to be released in late September. Hopefully, Law & Order: SVU will pave the way for other television series to address this global issue.
