Law & Order: SVU boss on record-breaking Season 21: "You don't want it to be just a regular season, you want it to be special"

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"I feel like this is cool…We are aware of this has never been done before," says showrunner Warren Leight, adding: "You want the stories to not feel like they could've happened any time in the last—it could've been episode 330 or 387, you want it to feel like, ‘That was one of the season 21 episodes.' We're looking for stories that allow as full a range of emotion as possible. And also, we can go out to actors and say to Ian McShane or Ariel Winter, which is, ‘Do you want to come and be here for the 21st season?' And that's a pretty good pick-up line." Leight also said to expect more diversity, including more LGBTQ representation, this season. "Look, New York is a pretty diverse city in terms of everything and the show needs to better reflect that," he says. "We have a relatively small cast of regulars now, so there may be people who are with the squad for a few episodes. A lot of times, SVU will team up with vice or SVU will team up with another unit and that allows us to fold people in. It's very hard for me to take a character we've known for 20 years and have that character discover that they're pansexual or something."ALSO: Mariska Hargitay is "appalled and jubilant" that SVU has become relevant in recent years due to the #MeToo movement.