Former Law & Order: SVU star Christopher Meloni is to reprise his role as iconic Irish-American detective Elliot Stabler in a new spin-off series.
US entertainment trade website Deadline, which first reported the story, says the new show from Law & Order creator and boss Dick Wolf will focus on the organised crime unit led by Stabler in the New York Police Department.
NBC has ordered 13 episodes of the new series - the first show from a nine-figure deal Wolf Productions agreed with the network in February.
Deadline says the new series could lead to crossover episodes with Law & Order: SVU, which would see Stabler reunited on screen with fellow detective Olivia Benson, played by Mariska Hargitay. Longtime friends Meloni and Hargitay starred opposite each other in Law & Order: SVU for over a decade, Meloni departed the show after 12 seasons in 2011 to pursue other roles.
