A growing list of performers, thanks in part to an expanding slate of shows, playing multiple characters across the years means the Dick Wolf universe is leaning into a multiverse.
The exploration and ideas of multiverses is nothing new. It just seems to be all the rage these days, notably in television and film.
Currently leading the charge is the new phase of Marvel, with movies like Spider-Man: No Way Home (with three... Spider-Men? Spiders-Man? Spider-Mans?) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and the animated series What if?
Taking the film world by storm, Everything Everywhere All At Once also explores multiple universes, and lives led in each variant.
Even Michael Keaton is returning as Batman, though who knows what is in store regarding all the different actors playing Batman currently occupying the DC Universe.
All these multiverses being thrown against the wall, it's time to once again journey in the universe of Dick Wolf produced shows.
Two performers have recently cemented their status in what I will henceforth call the Law & Order multiverse. This is bound to happen more often as the same performers are used, considering Wolf produces roughly *100 shows that are currently airing on various networks. (* Number not exact. Wink, wink.)
The difference with these two is that they've each played pretty prominent characters, then appeared as prominent characters in other shows in the universe, thus creating a multiverse of sorts.
Top-notch performers, times two
The focus here begins from the latest from the Law & Order universe, Organized Crime. This show is closing in on the end of its second season (and recently picked up for a third) and is powered by the magnificent Christopher Meloni as Detective Stabler. Stabler, of course, spent 12 seasons as a detective with SVU.
In its first two seasons, Organized Crime has had its fair share of crossovers with SVU. One of the things I l like about Organized Crime is that the seasons are built around one or two main storylines, rather than different cases each week. The main antagonist in the first 1.5 seasons was played by Dylan McDermott. McDermott, as Richard Wheatley, was delightfully evil before meeting his demise.
McDermott, less than six months later, popped up on FBI: Most Wanted. Better yet, he is not playing the same character and is on the different side of the law than his character on Organized Crime was.
No problem, since the show is on the another network and is part of the FBI world. Except this universe is part of the Law & Order universe, thanks to a connection via Chicago P.D. when Upton (Tracy Spiridakos) landed on FBI for a story arc.
Chicago P.D. and SVU have had crossover events, connecting the worlds. And maybe, just maybe, giving fans a multiverse where the central characters of various shows stay the same but different scenarios are played out with familiar faces.
(Imagine, later on down the line, its revealed to the FBI: Most Wanted characters that the man IS indeed Richard Wheatley. Then the multiverse angle would simply be brought down to universe level again).
The second performer, too, is well-known. Mykelti Williamson hit the scene with his performance in Forrest Gump and has been a mainstay in cinema and television since.
Williamson played Denny Woods on Chicago P.D. back in 2017-18. Woods was a nemesis to Hank Voight (Jason Beghe) and the intelligence unit for 14 episodes and was a central character in the arc that led to the exit of Elias Koteas from the show.
Then, in the second season of Organized Crime, Williamson sauntered into New York City and onto the radar of Stabler and the unit he works for. Not as Woods, of course, but as Preston Webb, a powerful figure and main antagonist off-and-on through season two.
Once decorated police officer, with an epic downfall, now turned crime lord. A perfect leap as two different characters within the same universe. A multiverse, if you will.
Sure, that takes some stretch of the imagination and playing with a suspension of disbelief. And it's not exactly as special as three Stablers or three Bensons gracing our screens. Or episodes asking "What if Ice T was never a detective in the Law & Order universe?".
Come to think of it, however, wouldn't that be something, to take a look at "What if Richard Wheatley were an FBI agent?" Dick Wolf really should hop on the multiverse train.
Coming next fall. Law & Order: Multiverse Mondays
photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
Comments