Warwick Saint/NBCThe Law & Order: SVU detectives will remain on the case for another season—NBC has renewed the long-running drama for a 16th season, E! News has confirmed.
The entire cast, including Mariska Hargitay, is expected to return for the new season. Hargitay is the only actor still on the show since it began in 1999. Law & Order: SVU is the only remaining Law & Order series still in production.
"It's official. Thank you #SVUDiehards, cast and crew, Dick Wolf, @Mariska, Bob Greenblatt and @nbc. #SVUSweetSixteen!!," showrunner Warren Leight tweeted.
NBC and Dick Wolf, the show's creator and executive producer, were reportedly in tense renewal negotiations leading fans to use the Twitter term #RenewSVU to generate buzz for the series.
"We're up 5 percent on the year. Modern Family is down and Criminal Minds is down, they're still in the Top 10. But it's a tough slot, up against two Top 10 shows, but we're up and they're down," executive producer Leight told E! News in April, prior to renewal. "We're up for the first time since 2005 and the critics are responding. You would like to think that counts, but then you get into the arcane—the complicated relationship Dick has had with the network. It's like a very strange marriage that just goes on and on and on and sometimes nobody pays attention to the kids in the fight."
SVU also stars Ice T, Danny Pino, Kelli Giddish and Raul Esparza.
(E! and NBC are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)