This week’s premieres of “Law & Order” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” are tackling timely topics head-on.
The Season 26 premiere of the flagship series is set to dive into the world of AI autonomy. Per the episode description, “A software engineer’s murder sends Riley (Reid Scott) and Walker (David Ajala) into the rapidly evolving world of A.I. As Baxter pursues justice in a groundbreaking case, he’s confronted with a technology advancing faster than the laws designed to govern it.”
“We try to capture the cultural zeitgeist, and artificial intelligence is clearly top of mind these days,” says showrunner Rick Eid. “What’s shocking about this technology is that it’s moving so quickly. This episode went from something that felt almost like science fiction to something that feels totally plausible — in only a few months.”
The spinoff “Law & Order: SVU” is also tackling a topic currently in the news, with a story about multiple boys raping a young woman in New York. The episode is unfortunately timely, amid the infuriating story of the Cornell 7, the name coined online for the seven male students at Cornell University who are accused of drugging and gang raping a female classmate in October 2024. No arrests have been made.
“When a sexual assault victim struggles to prove her case in court, Benson (Mariska Hargitay) pursues a controversial strategy to make sure her voice is heard,” the official episode description for the premiere reads. “A meeting with a jury consultant leads Benson down a path that threatens her partnership with Carisi (Peter Scanavino).”
Showrunner Michele Fazekas wrote the episode in July, and it was filmed that month.
“Back in May, the New York State Legislature attempted to amend their rape law. As currently written, the law does not expressly protect intoxicated victims — only those who have been administered an intoxicating substance without their consent, or are ‘physically helpless,’ widely interpreted to mean unconscious,” she says. “After all these years on this show, I had no idea this was an issue — I assumed being drunk or under the influence meant you couldn’t consent to sex. But if you are voluntarily intoxicated, no matter how much, the law says you can. For me, it highlighted a major flaw in the system.”
Fazekas continues, “When the Cornell lawsuit became more widely known, I was horrified, but I wasn’t surprised. The central legal issue in our episode is how the law is written. It’s part of why law enforcement declines to prosecute in cases like this, and I hope that’s something that is talked about more.”
Hargitay, an advocate for victims of assault and abuse through her Joyful Heart Foundation, has been vocal about the Cornell 7 case, condemning the boys via Instagram and calling for justice.
On Monday, she echoed Fazekas’ statement above, explaining that if survivors chose to drink or do drugs, they “cannot legally claim that they were unable to consent to sex — unless they were physically unconscious or unable to speak.” The statement continues, “This is a voluntary intoxication loophole. It exists in 19 states. Legislators had the opportunity to address it and failed. Now is the time to let them know: These outdated laws must change.”
“Law & Order: SVU” premieres Thursday, Oct. 8, at 9 p.m. ET, followed by “Law & Order” at 10 p.m. ET. Both will be available ot stream the next day on Peacock.