Law & Order: Special Victims Unit season 7
A critically acclaimed season with an Emmy-winning lead performance.
This season earned both lead actors Emmy nominations, with Mariska Hargitay winning, making it the show's most critically acclaimed season.
Quick Facts
- Season number
- 7
- Starring
- Christopher Meloni
- Mariska Hargitay
- Richard Belzer
- Diane Neal
- Ice-T
- BD Wong
- Tamara Tunie
- Dann Florek
- Episodes
- 22
- Network
- NBC
- First aired
- 20 September 2005
- Last aired
- 16 May 2006
Facts from the source article.
Production
The seventh season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit followed a familiar production pattern, with the premiere episode shot prior to the season six finale airing. At the close of the season, co-executive producers Michele Fazekas, Tara Butters, and Lisa Marie Petersen left the series. Longtime Law & Order franchise director Constantine Makris also departed, not returning until the show’s twelfth season. Showrunner Neal Baer called to congratulate him, and Meloni replied, “Cool! I’m going back to ski.” According to The LA Times, the show also pushed for Ted Kotcheff to be nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series, but he was not chosen as a finalist.
Cast changes and returning characters
Tamara Tunie, who had played medical examiner Dr. Melinda Warner as a recurring character for five seasons, was promoted to the main cast and appeared in the opening credits. Judith Light returned for season seven, but her character, former Bureau Chief ADA Elizabeth Donnelly, now served as a judge; Light had previously appeared in seasons three, four, and six. For the first time, Isabel Gillies did not appear as Kathy Stabler because she was in Ohio focusing on her marriage. Mary Stuart Masterson reprised her role as Dr. Rebecca Hendrix in the episode "Ripped," where she helped Detective Stabler confront unresolved issues in what executive producer Neal Baer described as "an emotionally devastating scene." Ernest Waddell returned as Ken Randall, whose story was developed further in the episodes "Strain" and "Venom." Season seven marked Fred Thompson's final season on SVU, though he continued to play District Attorney Arthur Branch on the original Law & Order for another year. Diane Neal, who worked with Thompson that season, compared him to her father, a federal attorney, noting they were both southern, large, lawyers, the same age, and "football kind of guys."
Cast
Fred Dalton Thompson played District Attorney Arthur Branch. The season opened with "Demons," where Christopher Meloni had intense psychological scenes with Robert Patrick, known for Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Meloni said they met for the first time while filming and became close friends, noting that occasionally you find a great actor with whom you share a natural rapport. The second episode, "Design," connected with the Law & Order episode "Flaw." Estella Warren and Lynda Carter portrayed a mother-daughter con-artist team. Carter remarked that after often playing heroines, she relished taking on a grifter and exploring humanity's darker sides. One of their victims was Bobby Flay, then married to former SVU star Stephanie March. In the sixth episode, "Raw," Marcia Gay Harden appeared as an undercover agent first mistaken for a white supremacist named Star Morrison, later revealed to be FBI agent Dana Lewis; Harden reprised this role three more times on the show. Dean Cain starred in the eighth episode, "Starved," playing what Neal Baer described as a very handsome man possibly involved in a string of serial rapes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who stars in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit season 7?
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit season 7 stars Christopher Meloni, Mariska Hargitay, Richard Belzer, Diane Neal, Ice-T, BD Wong, Tamara Tunie and Dann Florek.
How many episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit season 7 are there?
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit season 7 has 22 episodes.
More in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Seasons
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