Sound Familiar? 17 ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ Episodes That Were Ripped From the Headlines

Being obsessed with true crime and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit pretty much goes hand in hand. And when you love both, you tend to notice more than a little inspiration from real life stories can be found in the show. That’s no coincidence. As season 21 airs, they’re ready to take on even more stories as Lieutenant Olivia Benson takes down the bad guys and gets justice for the victims with the rest of her squad. So what’s up next on the docket?

In season 21, you’ll recognize a few more ripped-from-the-headlines cases reveal SVU stars Ice-T and Kelli Giddish, who play Fin Tutola and Amanda Rollins respectively. At the History Is Made: Law & Order: SVU Celebrates A Milestone event at The Paley Center For Media on September 25, In Touch got a chance to talk to the new celebrities about what we can expect. According to the rapper, we can keep an eye out for an “Empire-ish drama” that tackles the Jussie Smollett scandal. The actress dished we’ll see more #MeToo stories. Granted, the whole show is pretty much full of #MeToo stories, but the first episode of the season, titled “I’m Going to Make You a Star,” closely mirrors the Harvey Weinstein case as an actress accuses a media mogul of assaulting her.

Though Kelli didn’t discuss the episode specifically, she shared, “I think you can see us explore [the #MeToo movement] and the repercussions it’s had throughout our culture. Sadly, there’s plenty to rip.” The writers have been hard at work adapting and creating stories that reflect the real life conversations about sexual assault we’ve had in our society. “With Warren Leight back as our showrunner, he takes some things that happen and really delves deep and explores, you know, like only writers can … all [the] different ins and outs,” she shared.

Over the past 20 years, the show has told stories that remind us of cases like Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s, Jeffrey Epstein‘s, Rihanna and Chris Brown‘s and even the Duggars, not to mention older crimes like the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese or the Golden State Killer slayings. Check out the gallery below to see some of our favorite SVU episodes that remind us of real life.