NBC Renews 'Law & Order: SVU,' Orders Dick Wolf's 'Chicago Fire' to Series

10:17 AM PDT 5/9/2012 by Lesley Goldberg

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"SVU" will return for a 14th season, while "Fire" stars "The Vampire Diaries' " Taylor Kinney and "House's" Jesse Spencer.

"Law & Order: SVU"

NBC is expanding its relationship with Dick Wolf.

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The network has renewed the venerable procedural Law & Order: SVU for a 14th season and ordered Wolf's drama pilot Chicago Fire to series.

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While viewership of Wolf's SVU has declined in the wake of longtime co-star Christopher Meloni's departure, the Wednesday night crime drama remains a valuable franchise for the network and studio Universal Television, which recently inked lead Mariska Hargitay to a new deal.

The series, under new showrunner Warren Leight, also has seen a creative change for Hargitay's Detective Olivia Benson, enlisting Harry Connick Jr. and Andre Braugher as love interests for the beleaguered cop.

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Meanwhile, Wolf's hourlong "ER in a fire station" drama Chicago Fire has been ordered to series. Fire is described as an action-driven drama exploring the complex and heroic men and women of the Chicago Fire Department. The Vampire Diaries' Taylor Kinney and House's Jesse Spencer star in the Universal Television- and Wolf Films-produced hour written by Derek Haas and Michael Brandt. Wolf is an EP alongside Danielle Gelber and Peter Jankowski. Jeffrey Nachmanoff directed the pilot.

For NBC, Fire becomes the network's second drama pilot to earn a series order, following Warner Bros. Television's J.J. Abrams- and Eric Kripke-penned thriller Revolution.