When will new episodes of Law & Order: SVU Season 26 return? Everything you need to know

Law & Order: SVU season 26 premiered on NBC on October 3, 2024. Since then, the latest edition of the popular police crime drama series has been having a weekly run on the network.

However, the eighth and last episode of season 26 was released on November 21, 2024, and following it, no new episode has been released since. The next episode of Law & Order: SVU season 26 is scheduled to be released on January 16, 2025.

The latest episode of the series ended on a suspenseful note, as Captain Olivia Benson fought intensely to save Carisi from a dangerous hostage situation, involving Amanda Rollins as backup. Read on to learn more about the upcoming episode.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for Law & Order: SVU season 26. Reader discretion is advised.

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Law & Order: SVU season 26: Next episode release date and time

The series will be back next year, on January 16, 2025. New episodes drop at 9 p.m. ET. For general convenience, the following table lists the release date and time of episode 9 alongside the corresponding time zones:

Time zone	Date	Time
Pacific Time	Thursday, January 16, 2025	6 PM
Central Time	Thursday, January 16, 2025	8 PM
Eastern Time	Thursday, January 16, 2025	9 PM
British Summer Time	Friday, January 17, 2025	2 AM
Indian Standard Time	Friday, January 17, 2025	6:30 AM
Central European Summer Time	Friday, January 17, 2025	3 AM
Australian Central Time	Friday, January 17, 2025	10:30 AM

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Why the hiatus between episodes 8 and 9?

As per a report published by NBC on November 21, 2024, Law & Order: SVU season 26 is on a holiday hiatus following episode 8, which was its fall finale. Similarly, other popular NBC shows like the three series of the One Chicago Universe will return next year.

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Law & Order: SVU season 26: Streaming options and cast

New episodes of the series are available to watch only on NBC. However, they become available on Peacock, the network’s streaming platform, one day after their release.

The cast of season 26 includes:

• Mariska Hargitay as Captain Olivia Benson
• Ice-T as Sergeant Odafin "Fin" Tutuola
• Peter Scanavino as Dominick "Sonny" Carisi, Jr.
• Octavio Pisano as Junior Detective Joe Velasco
• Kevin Kane as Detective Terry Bruno
• Juliana Aidén Martinez as Junior Detective Kate Silva
• Ryan Buggle as Noah Porter-Benson
• Aimé Donna Kelly as Captain Renee Curry
• Edie Salas Miller as Officer Tiffany Gómez
• Charlotte Cabell as Jesse Rollins
• Brett Cullen as Judge Leonard Andrews
• Jessica Tuck as Lillian Andrews
• Johanna Braddy as Maggie Andrews
• Mark Moses as Defense Attorney Jan Green

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What happened in the last episode of Law & Order: SVU season 26?

Toward the beginning of the latest episode, titled Cornered, Carisi walks into a local deli to get some flowers for his paralegal whose birthday was on that day. However, as luck would have it, a robbery was ongoing at the store right then.

Carisi became a hostage to Boyd and Deonte. Olivia, seeing that Carisi was late at work, reached outside the deli in search of him and figured out the scenario. She immediately phoned Amanda and let her know about the same.

Meanwhile, Deonte started getting more and more aggressive, extracting money from the hostages and even s*xually assaulting a woman. When he figured out that Carisi had been trying to communicate with the police, he became more violent than ever.

Deonte negotiated for a free passage out of the store. However, Carisi and he got into a fight, and Boyd helped the former by shooting Deonte down. Carisi cornered Boyd nevertheless, arguing that he too was responsible for what the victims had to undergo.

As the episode approached its end, it became clear that Carisi was traumatized by the incident. Olivia and Amanda remarked that he was not doing okay.

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All episodes of Law & Order: SVU are available to stream on Peacock.