Organized Crime’s Dean Norris Reveals an Easter Egg Chris Meloni Wrote Into the Script

Fans were thrilled when they heard Elliot Stabler (Chris Meloni) was returning to the Law & Order universe after a decade away. A longtime favorite on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, it felt like a homecoming and an exciting new adventure alike when he was announced to lead Law & Order: Organized Crime. Now in its fifth season, the spin-off has established itself as a solid entry in the wildly popular Dick Wolf franchise, and with its recent move to Peacock, one can only assume the series is about to get even grittier and more intense.

Dean Norris, who plays Elliot’s brother, Randall, is no stranger to gritty and intense. Best known for shows like Breaking Bad and films like Lethal Weapon 2 and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, he’s made a career of appearing in heart-pounding, action-packed projects. The complex Stabler family drama is one of the most compelling parts of Organized Crime, and Season 5 promises to lean into that more than ever. The two-episode premiere alone shows Elliot and Randall being put through the wringer, which has the potential to bring them closer than ever — or drive an even larger wedge between them.

Collider got the chance to speak to Norris about working with Mariska Hargitay, how his longtime friendship with Meloni influenced a key moment in the script, whether he would want to follow in Meloni and Hargitary’s footsteps by writing or directing, and more.

‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’s Dean Norris Talks Working With Mariska Hargitay

COLLIDER: That scene between Randall and Olivia is so interesting to me. It seems like there’s maybe some initial awkwardness, but it quickly becomes quite natural between them. I’m curious, what do you think Randall’s initial feelings on Olivia and her relationship with Elliot are?

DEAN NORRIS: Oh, I love that scene so much. Chris Meloni wrote that scene. He wrote that episode. I have a restaurant in California, Temecula, called the Swing Inn Cafe. We’re a barbecue place, so I’m always talking about how great my brisket is in real life, and Meloni always jokes with me about, “Hey, the brisket king’s on set.” And sure enough, I get handed the script — because he texted me and said, “I got a great scene for you.” And Benson comes in, and Randall — who doesn’t have a lot of couth, he’s not a smooth guy — but boy, he sees her, and he’s like, “I’m gonna shoot my shot.” And what is his pickup line? “Hey, baby — you want some brisket? You want to try my brisket? I make the best brisket.” I just thought it was funny — and doing it literally over the comatose body of his brother. I think he said something like, “Yeah, I think he told me something about you.” So he knows there’s something there, but I just think the fact that he’s willing to try to pick her up when he first meets her. And she’s so great — such a legend to work with. We’ve become a little bit of friends off set as well now, so I sure hope I get to see her a lot around the set in the Dick Wolf stages there.

That was such a fun moment, but I do like that the hospital scene does have a lot of meat to it, too. It really I think underlines how complex the relationship between Randall and Elliot is, and that line, “I’ve hated you for a really long time, but I love you,” really stood out to me as something that was really powerful — and the fact he can only really say it when Elliot is unconscious and not really listening says a lot. I’m curious if you can talk about how you sort of approached that speech that he gives him.

NORRIS: I thought, again, that’s such a great scene because then that segues into the Benson part. They’re struggling to find their relationship, Elliot and Randall, because it’s been 18 years since they’ve been together. There’s been all these lies, and things have been kept secret — all this different stuff. It’s a very dysfunctional family, although they love each other. I think Randall’s just hurting and really wants to let out all that he’s been pushing under. That moment, I think maybe — in the back of his mind — he hopes that somehow seeps into his brain. The fact that he’s comatose allows him to say what he really feels and what he’s really been holding back, and he definitely wouldn’t have done that if he were awake.

‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’s Dean Norris on Chris Meloni’s Writing — and Whether He Might Pick Up the Pen, Too

It’s such a beautiful moment. I know that you mentioned that Chris actually wrote that episode. What is that experience like acting with him on something that he worked on in that way? Does that sort of change the experience of it at all for you?

NORRIS: You know, we did a movie together. We’ve known each other for about 10 years. We did a movie together, an independent movie, and so we had this great kind of shorthand or chemistry between us on that movie. And when they called to say I was playing his brother, I was like, “Wow, it’s gonna be great.” So it’s more just the chemistry of he and I together. I guess the fact that it has some real-life thrown in there with the brisket made it kind of fun, but you know, Chris is good at writing. I think that’s why they had him write that with Benson — he’s good at really writing great acting scenes because he’s a great actor. He knows where those come from, and that part of it was fine and fun. It was great.

I’m curious if that has inspired you to maybe want to potentially write an episode or direct in the future.

NORRIS: I wouldn’t mind directing. I don’t know. I don’t think I’m a writer. I can write scenes, but it’s hard for me to write. I can write patter and dialogue between people — sometimes we do doctor up the scenes if we need to — but you know, writing in a whole kind of arc of a thing, I just don’t have the writer’s brain for it. Let people who are much better than me do it.

I think you’re not giving yourself enough credit. I think you would be great at it, but fair enough. Maybe directing is the path for you.

NORRIS: That’s a little different.

‘Law & Order: Organized Crime’s Dean Norris Teases What’s Next for Elliot and Randall in Season 5

Looking ahead, how do you think Elliot getting injured like this is going to impact their relationship moving forward? Because it is sort of a big thing that seems to be maybe shifting their dynamic a bit.

Well, I think Elliot is starting to — just a little bit — start to more appreciate Randall and the fact that he has an older brother. I have an older brother, and I love him, and we actually had some time, years where we didn’t… I mean, we would speak, of course, and see each other, but we — because we were in different parts of the world, really on opposite sides — didn’t really get to see each other that much. And now, actually, he’s on the East Coast, so now that I’m working here, I get to see him more, and we talk all the time and text all the time. But there is something about that brotherly thing that I think Chris and I both kind of kind of can bring to it, and with our friendship being part of it, it’s an ever-evolving and growing dynamic. The relationship gets stronger in its own way and more intense — sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. It’s a really interesting dynamic that we get to explore and we explore throughout this season. The fact that maybe he’s not the Superman he thinks he is and has been, I think he’s more thankful that Randall’s there. And also having Randall help him take care of Bernie, our mom, helps relieve some tension from him. So I think he starts to see Randall as someone that he can count on and how he has a brother again. His brother’s back in his life.

New episodes of Law & Order: Organized Crime premiere on Peacock every Thursday.

Law and Order: Organized Crime

Release Date

April 1, 2021

Network

NBC, Peacock

Showrunner

Bryan Goluboff

Directors

John Polson, Jean de Segonzac, Jon Cassar, Stephen Surjik, Sharon Lewis, Simón Brand, Bethany Rooney, Jonathan Brown, Milena Govich, Ken Girotti, Gonzalo Amat, Tess Malone, Alex Hall, Anna Dokoza, Brenna Malloy, Monica Raymund, Sarah Boyd, Nelson McCormick, Leslie Hope, Rob J. Greenlea, Oz Scott, Michael Slovis, Alex Zakrzewski, Kate Woods

Writers

Amy Berg, John Shiban, Liz Sagal, Nichole Beattie, Will Pascoe, Emmy Higgins, Candice Sanchez McFarlane, Katrina Cabrera Ortega, Bridget Tyler, Davon Briggs, Alec Wells, Michael Konyves, Josh Fagin, Sean Jablonski, Gwen Sigan, David Graziano, Daniel Beaty, Katie Letien, Rick Eid, Nick Culbertson, Jean Kyoung Frazier, Christina Piña

Watch on Peacock