Law & Order: Special Victims Unit season 22

Production

The season marked the return of former main cast member Meloni as Elliot Stabler since the season 12 finale; Meloni starred in the new spin-off Law & Order: Organized Crime. In the wake of increased awareness of police brutality towards people of color and racial unrest following the murder of George Floyd, showrunner Warren Leight said he had been making changes in the SVU writers' room, stating that change would start taking place on TV shows individually and that there would be lip service paid. Leight said they had tried hard in the last year to show how class and race affect justice outcomes but suspected that was not enough, and that this had to be a moment where people in power make themselves uncomfortable. Two days prior, Hargitay posted photos on Instagram of the cast and crew doing a read-through of the premiere episode script on a Zoom chat and of the script itself, titled "Remember Me in Quarantine." On September 14, Hargitay posted pictures showing crew and cast waiting for COVID-19 tests and herself in the makeup chair with a gowned and masked makeup artist. NBCUniversal developed a comprehensive return-to-work playbook followed by all its series, involving reduced shift hours and added shoot days to accommodate COVID-19 protocols.