Ahead of Thursday’s Law & Order: Organized Crime premiere, star Dean Norris tells FIRST for Women everything you need to know about Season 5 on Peacock. The Breaking Bad alum gets candid about joining Dick Wolf’s Law & Order universe as Elliot Stabler’s big brother, Randall, putting down the badge to play this season’s family drama with costars Christopher Meloni and Ellen Byrsten, and getting to share the screen with SVU icon Mariska Hargitay during Olivia Bensen’s Organized Crime season premiere crossover.
Plus, the 62-year-old—who is also currently getting campy laughs with Lisa Kudrow and Parker Posey in Max’ horror film The Parenting—reveals what’s on his bucket list and where Breaking Bad fans can order Schraderbräu Beer.
Dean Norris teases ‘L&O: Organized Crime’ S5 will be’ edgier’ and ‘very emotional’
Law & Order: Organized Crime season 5 makes the move from NBC to Peacock and while half of the two-episode premiere will enjoy a special airing on the network, Under the Dome and Claws alum Dean Norris teases that the Dick Wolf series has upped the ante for streaming audiences.
“With the move to Peacock, we’re an edgier and more cinematic show, and the relationships get to be delved into in a more serious and in-depth way,” he previews. “The violence is a little more realistic and authentic. It’s a pretty intense, very gritty, and very emotional season.”
Sgt. Ayanna Bell, Stabler, Reyes, Jet, and Vargas are all back as the Organized Crime Control Bureau takes on volatile cases involving cross-border smuggling and high-tech domestic terrorism. The crime family Stabler took down during his years in Rome is also looking for revenge.
While the first investigation of the season will take a serious toll on Stabler and the team, however, the emotional stakes are not only raised on the job. Stabler’s once-quiet household is now buzzing with family again—including a mother who’s fragile, a son who’s joining the force, and a prodigal brother who’s helping him hold it all together.
‘Organized Crime’ star Dean Norris talks Stabler’s ‘dysfunctional family’ and Ellen Burstyn
Last season, Norris joined Organized Crime to play big brother Randall just as Stabler was trying to come to terms with the growing needs of their complicated matriarch, Bernadette, played by Ellen Burstyn. This season, Norris’ character will be watching over the home front while Stabler fights crime.
“I love that this is such a dysfunctional family, with all kinds of dark secrets and lies that haven’t been told,” he says of joining the Stablers. “Randall’s been completely incommunicado for 18 years, but he’s stepped back in. It’s nice to explore all those secrets and with Ellen Burstyn in particular, I feel like I’m taking care of Mom.”
“There’s that time in your life where you become the parent to the parent, a little bit,” Norris continues. “I mean, they’re always going to be your parents, but you start taking on the role of caretaker, and that’s something that we explore this season—and hopefully through several other seasons, because there’s a lot to explore there!”
‘Organized Crime’ newcomer Dean Norris talks chemistry with Christopher Meloni
Having grown up with a bipolar mother and abusive father, the Stabler boys have a lot to work through. In a big twist last season, it was even revealed that Randall hadn’t abandoned his family. He’d been kicked out by their mother for turning their father into an internal affair—which he’d done to keep her safe.
With that particular secret out, he’s finally trying to move forward.
“Randall feels like, ‘Good or bad, this is our family, and we love each other,’” Norris contends. “He can be a blowhard and he’s insecure, but knows they have to somehow make it through all these traumas and maybe find a new way to deal with each other, in the process.”
With the once-estranged brothers now trying to become a team, Norris is thrilled to be telling this story with his old pal, Christopher Meloni—who he shared laughs with in the 2014 indie movie Small Time.
“We played used car salesman who were best friends, and we just hit it off immediately,” Norris recounts. “We did all kinds of improv and fun stuff during that movie. It was amazing, so we’ve always wanted to do a show together—and here you go!
“10 years later, the call comes to play his brother,” he continues. “It’s perfect, because it’s brought so much comfort and authenticity to our relationship on screen. I hate to use the word chemistry… but that’s how a lot of people describe it, and we both feel it.”
Dean Norris talks Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson in Organized Crime premiere
With Randall fully embedded in the drama this season, the 2-part premiere will introduce him to Stabler’s original SVU partner, Olivia Benson in the second episode—which meant Norris got to work with Law & Order icon Mariska Hargitay during her crossover.
“It was great,” raves the actor. “She’s such a legend, and we’ve actually become friends off camera as well, so it’s very cool to be in that universe with her.”
When their characters cross in the second episode, which was written by Meloni, viewers can also catch a bit of an inside joke between the guys.
“At the Swing Inn Cafe and Barbecue in Temecula, we serve a lot of brisket,” sets up restaurateur Norris. “So Meloni was always kidding me. He would go, ‘The Brisket King’s on the set!’ And sure enough, I read the script, and that’s how I try to pick up Benson. I offer her some of my fine brisket! Oh, I thought that was funny.”
Norris, who’s also tied to the nine-year-old Norris Performing Arts Center, brought his Breaking Bad character’s Schraderbräu Beer to the real world in 2019 and still serves it at his BBQ joint, today. With interest from a new distributor, fans may find it back on the market again, soon!
‘Organized Crime; star Dean Norris wants to make a ‘Breaking Bad-level comedy’ hit
Over the course of his career, Dean Norris has held a badge for just about every law-fighting organization in America, but he’s also a fan of funny. He’s gotten laughs in United States of Al, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and most recently, his campy Max horror movie, The Parenting—and he’s ready for more.
“Since Breaking Bad, I’ve been trying to concentrate on doing more comedies, just to shake stuff up, and I really enjoyed them,” he says. “The thing I’d like to do in my career next is have a Breaking Bad-level comedy. My dream job is a comedy that’s interesting, witty, and cool that people get obsessed with.”
That said, this veteran actor is quite happy with where he’s landed.
“It’s kind of ironic that I got called in to do the Law & Order series… and I’m not a detective,” Norris cracks to FIRST for Women. “But it’s a nice contrast, and I love being in the Dick Wolf universe and working with my cast mates. Chris Meloni made it very welcoming to come onto a set that could be kind of daunting, because they’ve been there for so long. And this season is just explosive!”
Law & Order: Organized Crime premieres with two new episodes on Peacock on Thursday, April 17, with a new episode dropping weekly. The Organized Crime Season 5 premiere episode will also air on NBC on Thursday at 10 p.m.
