The fourteenth season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit debuted with a two-part premiere episode on September 26, 2012, at 9pm/8c - 11pm/10c (Eastern) on NBC, which was the show's weekly time slot.
The fourteenth season picked up storyline-wise where the last season left off, with Captain Cragen (Dann Florek) awaking to a dead sex worker in his bed with her throat slit. The two-part season premiere was watched by 7.19 million total viewers and received generally positive reviews. The series' landmark 300th episode fell this season and aired on October 24, 2012, watched by 6.77 million total viewers. This is the first season of SVU to have any kind of crossover with now-ended Law & Order spinoff Law & Order: Criminal Intent, with Kathryn Erbe guest starring in two episodes "Acceptable Loss" and "Poisoned Motive" as her LOCI character, Alexandra Eames, and Denis O'Hare guest starring in the episode "Presumed Guilty" as his LOCI character, Father Shea.
Production Law & Order: Special Victims Unit was renewed for a fourteenth season on May 9, 2012. Prior to the season fourteen renewal, cast members Ice-T (Detective Fin Tutuola) and Mariska Hargitay (Detective Olivia Benson) had already renewed their contracts through the fourteenth season. Ice-T announced on Twitter that filming on the fourteenth season began on Monday, July 23, 2012.
In May 2012, show runner/executive producer Warren Leight said that the story line for season fourteen would pick up where the thirteenth-season finale left off: "In fact, there were a number of scenes we shot that didn't make it into this cut that may make it into the next one. ... It's good to know who did it and why, and who's pulling the strings". On July 30, 2012, Leight confirmed the season premiere would be a two-part episode and Leight told Today, after talking about the returning guest stars from "Rhodium Nights": "We may want to do more of that this season", he said. The issue, he pointed out, is "how do you distinguish the 294th episode of 'SVU' from the others? I wanted to give people a reason to come back to season 14. The show deserves a good cliffhanger, and I loved reading people's responses after the finale ended -- 'Did they just do that?'" Leight continued, "People have us in a box", he said, "and I want them to see that the show is a little more adventurous than they might have remembered". In September, Leight said in an interview with TV Guide that this season's theme would revolve around "everybody having secrets".
On September 17, 2012, both Mariska Hargitay and Danny Pino tweeted that filming on SVU episode 300 started. Mariska tweeted "Can't believe we started filming our 300 episode today! #svu" and Pino tweeted with, "Congrats on 300 SVU's. Proud 2 contribute 28 to the tally. #quality&quantity".
Production on season 14 of Law & Order: SVU (along with other New York City based TV series) was halted by NBC starting October 29, 2012, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Show runner/executive producer Warren Leight tweeted on October 30, "SVU cast and crew seem to be safe. Our stages, and many of us, in the dark. Our thoughts and prayers to all suffering in Sandy's wake". Ice-T tweeted on November 1, 2012, "SANDY Update: SVU production shut down all week. No power on set". Law & Order: SVUs home studio on Chelsea Piers had water damage and a loss of electrical power; according to a note on the complex's website, "The city has not issued any location permits this week, so probably the earliest we'll be able to shoot is this weekend", said Warren Leight to NECN. "We are able to do some location scouting tomorrow (November 2, 2012) and we have our production meetings by phone, with people on their cells and calling from their cars. The main issue is going to be getting power restored." Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office said it would not issue permits for outdoor filming in the city's five boroughs until at least Friday, citing concerns about safety and the ongoing cleanup.
Ice-T tweeted on November 2, 2012: "Just made it to the SVU set on location in Riverdale NY. My trailer has power, TV and heat. I need to take this MF home!" Leight posted a tweet quoting the poem "Invictus" earlier in the day, "#SVU cast and crew somehow resumed shooting this morning. We are muddied but unbowed". At the production blog on the official website, they note the storm hit while episodes "Lessons Learned", and "Dream Deferred" were being shot; they couldn't get back into the studio or production office for weeks due to flooding.
On December 6, 2012, NBC ordered an additional two episodes for this season, bringing the total to 24. The season finale aired on May 22, 2013.
Cast
Main
Special guest star
Recurring
Guest stars
Dean Winters, who came back in "Rhodium Nights" to portray Detective Brian Cassidy, returned for the season premiere episodes, along with guest stars Peter Jacobson (Bart Ganzel), Pippa Black (Carrissa Gibson), Ron Rifkin (Defense Attorney Marvin Exley), Brooke Smith (Delia Wilson), and Laura Benanti as Marie Amaro. On January 4, 2013, Warren Leight tweeted the Cassidy character (Dean Winters) may appear again in the spring.
Paget Brewster guest starred as Paula Foster, the Bureau Chief ADA of the Public Integrity Unit in the District Attorney's office. Her character is assigned to the case against Captain Cragen (Dann Florek), who is suspected of murder after what occurred in the episode "Rhodium Nights", in which Cragen woke up with a dead prostitute (Pippa Black) in his bed. Brewster has guest starred on SVU before, in the eighth season episode, "Scheherazade", as the daughter of an elderly dying man, believed to be a murderer. Brewster's character installs an interim commanding officer, Captain Steven Harris (portrayed by Adam Baldwin), while Cragen is suspended and under investigation. Sue Simmons also guest starred in the season premiere episodes as herself. "It's a big scandal within the world we've created, there’s a dead hooker in the captain's bed, and we go to a newscaster to help us understand the story," said show runner/executive producer Warren Leight, "Sue opens the episode doing a news standup from outside 1 Police Plaza. We’ll bring her back for the second episode of the two-parter."
Roger Bart, Anna Chlumsky, and Raúl Esparza guest starred in the episode "Twenty-Five Acts". Chlumsky plays the author of a best-selling erotic novel, who accuses a high-profile talk show host (Roger Bart) of a brutal rape. However, the SVU squad gets suspicious when they discover her account of the rape mimics the chapters in her book. The squad, along with the DA's office (Raúl Esparza as ADA Barba), also struggles to keep the case from turning into a media frenzy. Kathryn Erbe guest starred in the episode "Acceptable Loss" as her Law & Order: Criminal Intent character, Detective Alexandra Eames, who is now working for a joint City/Federal Homeland Security Task Force (and promoted to Lieutenant), Eames crosses paths with the SVU squad when their investigation of a sex trafficking ring uncovers a connection to terrorists. Warren Leight tweeted Erbe would be in the fourth episode of the season.
Tom Sizemore, Hamish Linklater, and Alex Karpovsky guest starred in the 300th episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, titled "Manhattan Vigil". Longtime fans will be happy to know contains many nods to the series' pilot — Linklater played a man from a successful real estate family whose son goes missing. Showrunner/executive producer Warren Leight told TV Line, about Linklater's character, "His family is involved in the gentrification of Morningside Heights," where some of the episode is set, Leight said. Karpovsky portrayed an auxiliary police officer, and Sizemore played a man employed by Linklater's character's family. Lindsay Pulsipher portrayed Kim Rollins, Detective Amanda Rollins' (Kelli Giddish) troubled sister in the episode "Friending Emily". Pulsipher will be in more than one episode in this season.
Scott Bakula guest starred in the episode "Vanity's Bonfire" as a lawyer who's being considered for the U.S. Supreme Court and is accused of fathering a child outside of marriage. "People might make the comparisons to John Edwards", Warren Leight said, referring to the onetime Democratic hopeful who admitted to having a child with his mistress. Elliott Gould and Charles Grodin guest starred in the episode "Lessons Learned", which is inspired by the Penn State child sex abuse scandal and Jerry Sandusky. On November 20, 2012, showrunner/EP Warren Leight tweeted that along with Gould and Grodin; Buck Henry, Frank Wood, Robert Sella, Anthony Rapp, and Elizabeth Marvel would also be guest starring in "Lessons Learned".
Patricia Arquette and Anne Meara guest starred as daughter and mother in the SVU episode "Dreams Deferred". The episode revolved around an armed and dangerous man who goes on a killing spree with Arquette's Jeannie - a prostitute with whom he has a long-standing relationship - representing the last person he calls. When Jeannie goes missing, the SVU is tasked with convincing their NYPD cohorts that her life is worth saving. Meara played Jeannie's mother, Irene, who worries for her daughter's health and safety. The duo joined previously announced guest star Jason Gedrick in the episode. Denis O'Hare guest starred in "Presumed Guilty" as Father Shea, a priest who is pulled from his car and brutally beaten. O'Hare played Father Shea in the Law & Order: Criminal Intent episode "Last Rites" under showrunner/executive producer Warren Leight in 2008. This marks O'Hare's second stint on SVU, following an appearance in 2000. He guest-starred on the original Law & Order four times, most recently in 2003 also playing a priest, Father Hogan. Erik LaRay Harvey portrayed Sam Randall, Detective Tutuola's ex-wife's brother in the episode. Despite Sam's former criminal record and various stints behind bars, Fin doesn't think Sam is their man and asks his SVU partners for help getting to the bottom of the case. Theo Rossi also guest stars in the episode as Enrique Rodriguez, a working-class Catholic who is determined to seek justice for his sister when he finds that she was part of a church cover-up.
Jane Kaczmarek guest starred in the episode "Beautiful Frame", as Suffolk County District Attorney Pamela James, who lands the same murder case as ADA Barba (Raúl Esparza). However, while James arrests an SVU rape victim for the crime, Barba and the SVU team like a different suspect for the murder. The trials start simultaneously and both prosecutors must fight for a conviction before the other can destroy their case. In "Beautiful Frame", Yvonne Zima portrayed a rape victim in an SVU case who is arrested for the murder of her ex-boyfriend. Suffolk County DA Pam James (Kaczmarek) lands the case and swiftly brings charges against the young woman. Detective Benson questions the circumstances of the arrest and gathers enough evidence for ADA Barba to levy charges in Manhattan against another suspect. The two ambitious District Attorneys square off in separate trials for the same murder, hoping to get a conviction before the other derails their case. Nia Vardalos appeared in an episode titled, "Criminal Hatred", (airing January 30, 2013), Vardalos portrayed Counselor Minonna Efron, whose client is on trial for assault and murder. Vardalos' character is described as "disorganized", which makes ADA Barba (Raúl Esparza) think he's got an easy win, but the character winds up thwarting him at every turn. Victoria Rowell also guest stars and Fred Norris makes a cameo appearance.