Former regular Chris Orbach, who plays Ken Briscoe, is the son of Jerry Orbach, who played Lennie Briscoe on "Law & Order" (1990). Ken Briscoe is Lennie's nephew.
After the World Trade Center attack in September 2001, NBC ordered the opening credits for the 2001-2002 season reedited to remove images of the ill-fated building.
Richard Belzer carried his role of Det. John Munch over from the series "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993). He also played John Munch in "Law & Order" (1990) which had several crossover episodes with "Homicide", an episode of "X Files, The" (1993), an episode of "Beat, The" (2000), an episode of "Law & Order: Trial by Jury" (2005) and the finale of "Arrested Development" (2003). This is a record for appearances by an actor playing the same character in different programs.
Like its sister series "Law & Order" (1990), SVU episodes are often advertised as being "ripped from the headlines". Many people mistake this to mean that they are based on real events. In reality, the slogan is referring to the show's practice of coming up with stories that are partially inspired by recent headlines. However, only a fairly small portion of the episode will resemble the real incident or incidents that it is inspired by. There might be a few scenes that resemble a well known headline while the majority of the episode goes in a different direction or there could be one character that is based on a famous individual but the circumstances the person encounters are largely made up.
Many of the actors on the show previously starred on the HBO drama "Oz" (1997) including Dean Winters and B.D. Wong. Most notable, and ironic, is Christopher Meloni (Detective Stabler) who played a sadistic rapist and murderer on OZ and now hunts them on SVU.
According to an article in TV Guide magazine, cast members are often approached by sexual abuse survivors who thank them for portraying these types of stories on the air correctly.
Uses a re-mixed version of the theme music from "Law & Order" (1990).
The series was originally proposed under the title Sex Crimes, and unrelated to the "Law & Order" (1990) brand. NBC thought the title was too harsh, and after discussions between network executives and Dick Wolf (I) (creator of "Law & Order" (1990)) it became part of the Law & Order brand, debuting as "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1999).
The only prime time drama to be spun off from two separate shows: "Law & Order" (1990) and, through the character of John Munch, "Homicide: Life on the Street" (1993)
Fin's last name (Tutuola) means "The gentle one" in the African Yoruba language.
Mariska Hargitay keeps a photo of her mother Jayne Mansfield on her desk on the set.
Two years before joining the cast as a series regular, Diane Neal appeared in an episode playing a woman accused of raping a male stripper.
The following statement appears at the beginning of each and every episode: "In the criminal justice system, sexually-based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories."
Peter Hermann (I) (who plays Attorney Trevor Langan in 19 episodes) is Mariska Hargitay's real-life husband.
Law and Order SVU's Olivia and Elliot are named for producer Dick Wolf (I)'s children. The name Olivia shows up in Benjamin Bratt (I)'s TV family (as one of Rey's daughters) then there's Dr. Olivet.
Stabler's shield number is 6313.
The photo in the opening credits for Dann Florek (from the beginning of the show) and Ice-T (starting with the second episode of season 2) have not changed since they first appeared on the show. The photo for Mariska Hargitay has changed four times (Season 1 has one photo, seasons 2-4 and the first four episodes of season 5 have another, the rest of season 5 has a third, and seasons 6-8 have a fourth). Christopher Meloni, Richard Belzer and B.D. Wong got new photos starting with the fifth episode of season 5 (coinciding with the debut of Diane Neal as ADA Casey Novak). Diane Neal had one photo for season five, a second for seasons 6 and 7, and a new photo for season 8. Tamara Tunie, who first appeared in the opening credits in season 7, has a new photo for season 8.
