Law & Order: SVU Has Delayed Its Trump Episode…Twice

Law & Order: SVU is about to reach a major milestone. This week, the NBC procedural will air its 400th episode. In addition to that achievement, there's another cause for celebration. The epic episode will be directed by Mariska Hargitay, the show's star and executive producer. During the Television Critics Award tour earlier this winter, showrunner Rick Eid was asked about one of the biggest rumors surrounding the series: an episode addressing now-President Donald Trump. It's a question that's been circling the show for some time now. Will it or won't it air an episode that's based on Trump and the scandals surrounding him during the election? First announced in the fall, the news got fans riled up, but there's been no sign of the episode yet, and Eid won't confirm or deny that the episode will ever air. "I have heard no news on that issue. Literally, no one talks to me about it," Eid told The Hollywood Reporter. "I've heard nothing about it. That's definitely a network decision. It's definitely not a Rick Eid decision, that I can promise you, so I have no idea." Rumors have speculated that the episode, titled "Unstoppable," has been delayed twice. Deadline describes one of the characters, played by Gary Cole, as a man who runs for president only to have "some women with sordid stories about him [try] to thwart him from moving on up." It was scheduled to air in October, but then got delayed to November. Now, it seems like the episode might not ever make it to air. THR also asked about an SVU episode based loosely on Roger Ailes, citing that as one way the show has used current events in its fictional universe. "When you're living in the world of being inspired by real-life headlines, sometimes the facts go against you in a way you can't imagine," Eid said. "And all of a sudden what you wrote two months ago feels different than what you might have wrote in the present because the facts have changed and I think there was a bit of that." Don't discount the Trump episode as something that's disappearing into the ether, though — Eid explained that it's out of his hands and up to NBC. "They made the decision that they thought was best and they're smart people so I don't know," he said.