Law & Order: SVU boss explains the Season 21 premiere's big changes

E! Online

"Thematically, it's a year about passages and changes. I don't think nobody at the start of the season will be in the same place at the end of the season," says showrunner Warren Leight. "People's titles will change, people's roles in the squad room will change, people's domestic life—turning 21 is a major passage in life, so it should be for the show as well. With any luck, the special victims unit will still be up and running by the end of the season, but people will go through a lot of personal and professional changes, I think."