Law & Order: SVU Season 27 Will Challenge Olivia Benson in Ways ‘She Hasn’t Had in a While,’ Says Showrunner (Exclusive)

tqSeptember 28, 2025

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Michele Fazekas is joining ‘SVU’ as the new showrunner this season, which kicks off on Thursday, Sept. 25 on NBC

It’s about to go down at the 16th precinct.

Michele Fazekas, who is joining Law & Order: Special Vicitms Unit as the new showrunner for season 27, says fans can expect “a lot” from the upcoming episodes.

“In some ways, I’m going back to when I was on the show, which was like seasons 3 through 7. I remember what we were doing then that worked well. It’s like, ‘Alright, we’re gonna bring some of that back,'” Fazekas tells PEOPLE while attending the season 2 premiere of The Boys spin-off Gen V, for which she also serves as the showrunner and executive producer.

Fazekas was announced in April as the new top dog in charge of SVU, making her the first female to hold the job in the series’ history. She had previously worked on the show more than two decades ago as a writer and co-executive producer.

Ahead of the new season, Fazekas adds that she’s shaking some things up to refresh the series while still harkening back to its roots at the same time.

“We have a new producing director. We have new cameras. We changed the sets a little bit. And [we’re] really getting back into a twisty kind of case, [where] you don’t know what it is,” she says. “And [we’re] also giving some challenges to Benson that she hasn’t had in a while. In a great way, we’re giving her something to push against.”

On the topic of being the show’s first female in charge behind-the-scenes, Fazekas admits returning to the series was an easy yes.

“It’s crazy, in a way, that after 26 years on the air that [a female showrunner] didn’t happen. Although not, I guess, totally surprising,” she says. “Listen, I stayed friends with Mariska Hargitay the whole time, and she’s so lovely to work with. So that was a big driver in going back the show.”

“I can work with her and she creates such a fun environment on set and everybody’s professional and lovely,” she adds. “So we’re back. We’re back in sex crimes!”

Hargitay, who plays the fierce and compassionate Captain Olivia Benson, holds the title of playing the longest-running, live-action character on primetime television. She originated the role in 1999. And Fazekas says, much like SVU‘s early days, she most enjoys the show’s structure when it blends procedural and serial-style storytelling.

“I kind of like a combo. Like for a show like a Law & Order, you’re never gonna change that. And why would you ever change that? What we were able to do, even when I was on the show before, is have individual cases for each episode. But then you have this sort of mythology with storylines that kind of thread through all of the episodes,” Fazekas says. “That’s my favorite way to do it, where there’s a reason to tune in every week because you get to see that story developed, but there’s a case that wraps up every week.”