[Chris Eco]

Starring:

Sandra Bullock as Det. Olivia Benson

 Det. Olivia Benson is generally a consummate professional on the force, but is driven by her deep empathy for victims of sexual assault, being herself conceived in rape. Bullock will play the role with the same passion and seriousness, though with a light touch outside the office.



George Clooney as Det. Elliot Stabler

Elliot Stabler is an Irish Catholic and former Marine with a penchant for righteous anger, as well as a father seeking not to repeat the mistakes of his abusive family. I think Clooney has the range to be charming and warm when the scene requires it, while being able to turn it up to 10 for moments of borderline-violent outrage.



Forest Whitaker as Capt. Donald Cragen

A recovering alcoholic - ever since one incident wrongly pulling his revolver in drunken rage - Donald Cragen feels the weight of his job in his soul and brings dignified sorrow along with deep professionalism. The Oscar winner Whitaker brings the gravitas required for this role (and avoids the mistake of being miscast as hotshot team leader, see Criminal Minds spinoff).



Robert DeNiro as DA Investigator John Munch

At his best, John Munch is a wiseass son of a bitch former radical who has seen it all and who is getting too old for this shit. I think Robert De Niro would put a different, scene-stealing take on a simple core concept. He is at his best when paired at the hip with an actor who can keep up, I think he would thrive as the older mentor to his partner detective below.



Idris Elba as Det. Odafin "Fin" Tutuola

A former Army Ranger, Fin offers no sympathy to suspects and even less to himself. His hardened, withdrawn demeanor conceals both deeply painful experiences in his service and a loving but conflicted relationship with his gay son. Elba would put a different spin on the role - a hardness portrayed more by uncommon calm and deliberate speech than tough talk. Especially given the intellectual heft Elba can bring to a role, I imagine playing even more than the original SVU with the political needling between the old white Sixties liberal Munch and the tough-on-crime black Republican Tutuola.



Robin Wright as ADA Alexandra Cabot

The role of Alexandra Cabot is a balancing act; the actress needs to be able to be extremely cold in some scenes and extremely vulnerable in others. Robin Wright bridges that gap. I would have Wright slightly reimagine the role to make her a little bit older, a little more of her steeliness coming from a place of experience rather than youthful hunger, a little more of her softness coming from weariness rather than merely sudden tragedies.



Aisha Tyler as Dr. Melinda Warner

Melinda Warner is a hyper-competent Gulf War veteran turned medical examiner, occasionally jumping in to the main action for more dramatic medical feats. Warner isn’t a scene stealer, but a solid grounded presence of the show. Due to its subject matter, Law and Order: SVU can’t have the jaunty banter of a CSI or an NCIS when discussing its victims. But in the episodes that feature more of Warner, there’s also a role for someone who’s a little less somber willing to needle a detective over a bad assumption or offer a little dark humor. Aisha Tyler—of Criminal Minds, but also Friends, Archer and Whose Line Is It Anyway—strikes me as the perfect person to take on this role, as someone who understands the timing and rhythm of supporting character snark and seriousness in equal measure.



Constance Wu as FBI Special Agent Sarah Huang (formerly George Huang)

This is a big re-imagining of the role. George Huang is among the more sensitive and intellectual of the SVU team, having worked early on his psychiatric career as a counselor for sex offenders. While he has moved on to law enforcement now and certainly sympathizes first with victims, he challenges the mistreatment of suspects, particularly when that mistreatment reflects prejudice (Huang is gay).

I imagine Constance Wu, of newfound Fresh Off The Boat fame, of bringing a harsher take to the character, filling in the gap left by my exclusion of the hot-tempered character of Detective Chester Lake. Like George, Sarah is liberal, same-sex attracted, and well-educated; unlike George, she is unwilling to give the SVU detectives the benefit of the doubt, seeing them as sloppier and less respectful of constitutional rights than her federal compatriots. That level of default antagonism makes it more meaningful when she softens with victims. In both her acting work and her public interviews, Wu shows a flair for attractive harshness—an ability to make herself more compelling through argument. I think SVU would be a vehicle for her to occasionally steal a scene holding her own with Bullock, Clooney and Whitaker.



Lupita N’yongo as Defense Attorney Donna Emmett

Many actors and actresses have visited SVU to take on the role of a defense attorney—some total nobodies, some total rock stars. Viola Davis, taking a turn as Donna Emmett early in her career, was one of those future rock stars. I was tempted to just re-cast her in the role and have her bring her additional age and experience, but I felt like that might have been cheating a bit. Instead, I’m taking a younger rock star, a different Academy Award winner who has a lot more new to show us. Lupita N’yongo, of Twelve Years a Slave fame (and recently Star Wars and Jungle Book motion capture), is a classically trained Yale actress who plays a lot of “quiet dignity” roles. I would ask her to expand her range beyond that type here, taking on the role of the beautiful young defense attorney willing to exploit every (honest) trick for her clients accused of the most heinous offenses. More than anyone else, I feel like this choice is like casting George Clooney back when he was on ER—she has so, so much more to give to film and theater than we’ve seen.


Harrison Ford as District Attorney Jack McCoy

Primarily a Law and Order character, McCoy has made multiple crossovers to SVU as the big dog looming over New York prosecutions. McCoy is famously aggressive and ruthless, and Sam Waterston’s performance of the character was named a “Living Landmark” by New York City. To take on the role, I need an older actor who carries the same kind of living legend presence when he enters a scene—someone who can make the other characters seem that much smaller. Enter Harrison Ford. Ford is not just physically taller than my casting thus far (save Elba, and I think that works), he can realistically dominate them in conversation—making it all the more meaningful when someone (like Sarah Huang) stands up to his Jack McCoy’s scorched-earth tactics.

[Sportsguy]

This is fucking outstanding partner, well done.

[Chris Eco]

The remaining stars, and three guests to explain three or four episode plots.

Patricia Heaton as Judge Elizabeth Donnelly

Judge Donnelly is not the most well-remembered character from SVU, but she is among the few truly fleshed-out characters on the bench, having both a strident moral compass and a deep sense of mercy—something not always present in the hard-nosed prosecutors. Whether showing vulnerability after an assassination attempt or disciplining a corner-cuttting DA, I think “America’s Mom” Patricia Heaton—showing a tremendous dramatic range for a comedic actress, between Everybody Loves Raymond and The Middle—would be well suited as the exemplar of justice and mercy.

John McCain as District Attorney Arthur Branch

Is this a bit of stunt casting to take advantage of the rule Sporty set out and no one used? Absolutely. But casting Fred Thompson in the original Law & Order—before his term as Senator was even complete—was itself the ultimate stunt casting. Thompson was a serviceable actor, but he was there to lend the ultimate gravitas; a former high-profile Senator quietly lending a seriousness and a realism. John McCain not only matches Thompson’s articulate, calm delivery; whatever you think of his politics, he has a skill for delivering life lessons with a quiet nobility—perfect for a guest District Attorney.

And these three guest stars will give you a flavor of my episode style:

Christian Bale as First Deputy Mayor Andrew Gibson

This is a new character, but it’s drawn from the guest character Alex Munoz parodying Anthony Weiner’s struggles. While Munoz was more of a gag (“Enrique Trouble” rather than “Carlos Danger”), Gibson is slicker, brasher, a tells-it-like-it-is candidate for Mayor—and just may have abused multiple young girls at the Boys and Girls Club where he volunteers. Where Gibson adds elements of Bill Clinton and Donald Trump is that rather than pushing for the charges to quietly go away, he brings his case right to the public, laughing about his opponents who manipulate children to cry rape—and the public seems disturbingly willing to dismiss the victims, enraging Olivia Benson. I see this as a two-episode show, where one of the three victims is exposed as a fabrication but Benson continues to push the case against all pressure—and gets a measure of justice for the true victims (an election loss and probation, but bittersweet as Gibson escapes bars).

Gina Rodriguez as Lucia Torres, convict & witness

Through aggressive letter writing over a matter of years, ignored until one accidentally gets sent to Medical Examiner Melinda Warner, Lucia Torres (imprisoned for armed robbery) is brought in to the SVU as a whistleblower for permissive sexual assault by prison guards against inmates at a nearby women’s penitentiary. The guards obviously stonewall, with great pressure against collecting evidence. Further, it comes to light that Lucia herself had a teenage conviction for violent sexual assault against another woman, leading the guards to claim she’s covering tracks for her own prison gang. Through a bit of work right out of the great episode “Undercover,” DNA evidence is uncovered that is linked to one of the guards, leading to that guard turning state’s witness and turning over withheld video evidence. Jurisdiction over the massive prosecution is transferred to the FBI through Sarah Huang, who has been counseling Dr. Warner given her own experience with her brother’s assault in prison.

John Goodman as Fr. Brian Walsh, suspect

Goodman is one of our best contemporary actors when it comes to range (second maybe only to Gary Oldman, who I would have drafted if I had one more pick), but I’m appealing most here to his role in 10 Cloverfield Lane—as the abusive captor who may or may not be lying about an alien invasion rendering earth uninhabitable. Spoiler: He may be lying about a lot, but not the invasion. I cross this concept with the movie Doubt, where the harsh, conservative nun turns out to be the hero rather than the soft liberal priest who is—likely—the abuser. Here, Fr. Walsh is suspected of the abuse of a young alter server, with the victim too terrified to explain what happened beyond the statement that “Fr. Walsh will kill me and I’ll go to Hell” and the other young boys unwilling to speak. In the end, some investigation turns up that Fr. Walsh is only guilty of harsh physical chastisement that put the boys in great fear of reporting the other, gentler cooperating priest who was truly guilty. In the end, the gentler priest has been viciously assaulted by the time they go to apprehend him, as Fr. Walsh found out the truth and beat him within an inch of his life on behalf of his beloved—if harshly treated—children.