Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, commonly referred to as SVU, was the first spinoff of NBC’s Law & Order. It premiered on Sept. 20, 1999, and originally starred Chris Meloni and Mariska Hargitay as Det. Elliot Stabler and Det. Olivia Benson, partners in the New York Police Department’s sex-crimes squad. The first season’s cast also included Dann Florek as Capt. Donald Cragen, Richard Belzer as Det. John Munch, and Michelle Hurd as Det. Monique Jeffries.

The long-running procedural’s cast has changed over the years, most notably when Meloni left the show at the end of Season 12 amid a contract dispute. In the years that followed, Benson was paired with Det. Nick Amaro (played by Danny Pino) before receiving promotions that led to her becoming the squad’s captain. On a personal note, Stabler re-entered Benson’s life in Season 22 when his return to New York City coincided with the murder of his wife, Kathy, and his eventual joining of NYPD’s Organized Crime Control Bureau (and the premiere of the Meloni-led spinoff Law & Order: Organized Crime).

Law & Order: SVU airs Thursdays at 9/8c on NBC and can be streamed the next day on Peacock.