Timothée Chalamet is glad to report that Law & Order is no longer the “mothership” for actors. Good news for actors who were dealt with the significant blow of the original series’ cancellation in 2010. For 20 years and 20 seasons, the crime procedural had kept many actors employed. Not just the main cast either.
Being a crime procedural, there was always an opportunity for a revolving door of guest stars to catch their big break in an episode. Back when The King’s Timothée Chalamet was attending the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, actors’ employment hinged on the franchise. Chalamet told IndieWire:
I had a teacher who said that Law & Order was the mothership. I raised my hand and asked, ‘Why is it the mothership?’ And he said, ‘Because it’s going to keep half of you employed.’ That’s not the case anymore, so from that perspective, I think that’s a good thing.
Before that was not the case anymore, Timothée Chalamet guest-starred on an episode of the original Law & Order. The actor appeared in the 2009 episode “Pledge” as murder victim Eric Foley. Now, he and others coming up through the acting world do not have to entirely rely on the police procedural to get a job.
While it may seem like a one-off opportunity, it is interesting to note that some actors have starred in multiple episodes of the Law & Order franchise. For instance, Jennifer Esposito has guested on the Law & Order franchise more than once, and as different characters. Most recently, she starred in Law & Order: SVU Season 20 in a new role after guesting on its first season.
As it currently stands, actors have other outlets to break into the industry with. According to Timothée Chalamet, things are improving for actors, and it is thanks in large part to the explosion in streaming. More and more streaming services are readying to challenge Netflix, and they need content to do that. Chalamet discussed the rush of opportunities, saying:
I see some of my friends who are actors in New York getting more jobs, and the amount of opportunity that is there — whether it’s Amazon or Netflix or Hulu — from a basic employment perspective, it’s amazing. Maybe I’m wrong and the figures are different, but it feels like there are just more jobs.
I do not know the figures either, but what Timothée Chalamet is saying rings with a lot of accuracy. Every day, it seems like a new streaming series is getting announced. There is an ever-growing wealth of streaming services and with the amount of financial investment that is going into some of them, you can surmise that the opportunities are more boundless than ever.
That is not to say that the Law & Order franchise is no longer doing its part to keep actors employed. Thankfully, long-running spinoff Law & Order: SVU is still going strong with its current record-breaking season. And, if Timothée Chalamet decides to do another television show, there will be plenty of opportunities awaiting him, with Law & Order: SVU among those opportunities in New York which are ready for him to choose from!
New episodes of the Law & Order spinoff Law & Order: SVU are airing this fall on Thursdays, at 10 p.m. ET, on NBC. You can catch Timothée Chalamet in The King, starting November 1 on Netflix. It is among a lot of new content arriving on the streamer.
