Nearly 28 years after "Law & Order" first aired, the franchise keeps growing.
On Tuesday, NBC announced it has ordered 13 episodes of "Law & Order: Hate Crimes," a series inspired by New York City's Hate Crimes Task Force.
The new unit will be introduced in the latter part of the upcoming 20th season of "SVU," according to NBC.
The spinoff is co-created by Dick Wolf, the executive producer and driving force behind the "Law & Order" and "Chicago" franchises, and Warren Leight, former showrunner of "Law & Order: SVU."
The series will aim to tackle a relevant subject matter at a time when hate crimes are on the rise in major American cities, noted the press statement from NBC.
"As with all of my crime shows, I want to depict what's really going on in our cities and shine a light on the wide-ranging victims and show that justice can prevail," Wolf said in the statement.
A premiere date for the series has not been announced.
