Fall in the 2025 TV schedule is set to bring back some of network television’s biggest shows, including Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU on NBC. In fact, Law & Order: Organized Crime is even coming back with reruns to recreate the network’s Law & Order Thursday lineup. A fourth Law & Order show will be airing this fall as well, but not on NBC. Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent will come to the U.S. via The CW, and the leading lady is somebody who fans of the expansive Dick Wolf TV franchise will likely recognize.
Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent is a new take on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, the hit American spinoff of the OG series that aired for ten seasons and nearly 200 episodes. The drama already premiered on Citytv in Canada in 2024, and went on to become the #1 primetime premiere on Citytv and #1 primetime debut for a drama that season. The first of two seasons comes to The CW with the Season 1 premiere on September 24.
It won’t be a spinoff quite like SVU and Organized Crime, which had strong connections to the preceding shows, and it didn’t launch in the Great White North via a backdoor pilot, which is the norm within the Law & Order and wider Wolf Entertainment world.
This show stands alone… except that star Kathleen Munroe, who plays the Specialized Criminal Investigation Unit’s Detective Sergeant Frankie Bateman, is a familiar face across not only the Law & Order corner of the Wolf franchise, but also the three-show One Chicago world on NBC and the FBIs on CBS. Take a look at her list of Wolf franchise credits from before L&O Toronto:
- Law & Order: SVU Season 19, Episode 3 - Evelyn Bundy (2017)
- Chicago Med Season 5, Episode 4 - Dr. Andrea Danover (2019)
- Chicago P.D. Season 7, Episode 4 - Dr. Andrea Danover (2019)
- FBI Season 3 - Season 4 - SAC Rina Trenholm (2019)
- Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 3, Episodes 12 and 13 - D.A. Rika Harold (2023)
Yes, Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent will be Kathleen Munroe’s sixth show in the franchise, which is comprised of Law & Order, SVU, Organized Crime, Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Chicago Med, FBI, and FBI: Most Wanted and FBI: International before their cancellations. Frankie Bateman will only be her fifth character, however, after playing the same person in the 2019 One Chicago crossover on NBC, and she’s likely best recognized from her stints on FBI and Law & Order: Organized Crime.
Her character on FBI came to a tragic end after recurring in the third and fourth seasons, and it was such a big plot twist for the show's NYC office that I recognized Kathleen Munroe immediately when she arrived on Law & Order: Organized Crime a couple years later. (While OC is also set in New York, Munroe’s character wasn’t connected to FBI's Rina.)
None of this is to say that it’s unprecedented for actors to play multiple characters within the same franchise. The count is in double digits between the American Law & Order shows already, and Jeremy Sisto and Alana De La Garza were Law & Order regulars before they were Munroe’s costars on FBI. Plus, based on the trailer for Law & Order Toronto: Organized Crime, I don’t think anybody will confuse her new character with those she’s played elsewhere in the franchise. Take a look:
Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent follows Kathleen Munroe’s Detective Sergeant Frankie Bateman and Aden Young’s Detective Sergeant Henry Graff, with high-profile homicides to investigate in the largest metropolis in Canada. They use psychological tactics in the course of their investigations, and – as the name suggests – leans into the motives of criminals. Cases will involve finance, politics, real estate, and media.
I can’t vouch as to whether or not the Toronto-set entry in the franchise will feature the iconic “DUN DUN” or theme song, the latter of which is in fact so iconic that Dick Wolf himself had it as a ringtone. Find out how the Canadian procedural compares to the U.S. incarnations with the Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent premiere on Wednesday, September 24 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW. The second season will arrive on The CW in 2026.
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