Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (season 22)

• Mariska Hargitay as Captain Olivia Benson
• Kelli Giddish as Detective 2nd Grade Amanda Rollins
• Ice-T as Sergeant Odafin "Fin" Tutuola
• Peter Scanavino as ADA Dominick "Sonny" Carisi, Jr.
• Jamie Gray Hyder as Officer Katriona "Kat" Tamin
• Demore Barnes as Deputy Chief Christian Garland

• Ryan Buggle as Noah Porter-Benson
• Stephen Wallem as Nurse Rudy Syndergaard
• Lou Martini Jr. as Defense Attorney Ron Freddo
• Jessica Phillips as Defense Attorney Pippa Cox
• Kathryn Kates as Judge Marlene Simons
• Jasmin Walker as Defense Attorney Marame Touissant
• Ashley Taylor Greaves as Officer Gabrielle Taylor
• Tamara Tunie as M.E. Melinda Warner
• Jennifer Esposito as Sergeant Phoebe Baker
• Michael Mastro as Judge D. Serani
• Betsy Aidem as Dr. Sloane
• Aida Turturro as Judge Felicia Catano
• Marisa Brau-Reyes as Defense Attorney Edwina Myerson
• Elizabeth Marvel as Defense Attorney Rita Calhoun
• Wentworth Miller as ADA Isaiah Holmes

• Raúl Esparza as Defense Attorney Rafael Barba
• Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler[4]
• Annabella Sciorra as Lieutenant Carolyn Barek[5]

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit was renewed through its twenty-fourth season on February 27, 2020.[1] The season will mark the return of former main cast member Meloni as Elliot Stabler since the season 12 finale.[4] Meloni is also set to star in the new Law & Order spin-off Law & Order: Organized Crime.[14] He was expected to appear in the season premiere of the twenty-second season[4] but, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the premiere of the spin-off was pushed back to 2021,[3] delaying his appearance to the mid-season.[15]

In the wake of the rise in awareness of police brutality towards people of color and racial unrest in America, show runner/executive producer Warren Leight said that he has been making changes in the SVU writers' room, stating that "change will start taking place on TV shows individually. There will be lip service paid". In addition to bringing on new voices, including people of color and those who have extensive history covering and writing about crime in New York, Leight said that "[They've] tried really hard in the last year to show how class and race affect the outcomes of justice in society, but I'm beginning to suspect "really hard" wasn't enough. This has to be a moment where people make themselves uncomfortable, where people in power have to make themselves uncomfortable".[16]

On October 6, 2020, it was announced that Barnes would be promoted to main cast as Deputy Chief Christian Garland; he previously had a recurring role on the previous season.[17]

Filming for the season started on Monday, September 14, 2020.[18] Two days prior, Hargitay posted two photos on her Instagram of the SVU cast and crew doing a read-through of the premiere episode script on a Zoom chat and of the script itself with the title of the episode, "Remember Me in Quarantine".[19] On September 14, Hargitay posted two more pictures to her Instagram, one showing crew and cast members waiting in line to get COVID-19 tests and the other a photo of herself in the makeup chair with a gowned and masked makeup artist doing her hair and makeup.[20] NBCUniversal developed a comprehensive return to work playbook, which is being followed by all of the company's series. It involves reducing shift hours and adding days to shoots to accommodate strict COVID-19 protocols.[21]

The twenty-second season is expected to cover the pandemic, which led to reports of an increase in domestic abuse in New York. "We're going to reflect New York in the pandemic" and "what happens to someone who is sexually assaulted during the height of the coronavirus outbreak", said showrunner/executive producer Leight.[16] The pandemic had a direct impact on the cast and crew, as the show lost a member of the costume department, Josh Wallwork, who died at age 45 of complications due to COVID-19.[19]

Leight told TV Insider that in the sixth months that the series had last filmed (March 2020), New York City is "a city that has lost faith in the NYPD and the DA's office", and that the season premiere episode starts with an assault in Central Park that "quickly turns into a racially volatile situation, and [the unit] confronts how their own racial bias affects their judgment". After a case about domestic violence, the episode "Remember Me in Quarantine" turns to what happens after extended social isolation and quarantine due to COVID-19 — or, Leight said, "how close people get to their breaking points". He also told TV Insider "we hope to bring back some [more] past regulars this season", in addition to Christopher Meloni's guest return later in the season.[22]

The series is also expected to cover the rise in police brutality towards African Americans, namely the death of George Floyd (where an officer held his knee to Floyd's neck for over eight minutes and he subsequently died) and the global protests that followed after his death. Leight weighed in back in June 2020, that "we will find our way in to tell the story. Presumably our cops will still be trying to do the right thing but it's going to be harder for them and they're going to understand why it's hard for them". Co-star Ice-T also weighed in, "This one was just too brutal. This is what they call a tipping point. This is a point where people go, 'Enough!' This is a battle for humanity and human rights, it's not black and white people fighting, you know". According to Ice-T, the SVU writers have been "touched by this" incident and he thinks their emotional connection to it "is going to show up in their writing".[16]