Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (season 10)

Production

The tenth season introduced writer Daniel Truly to SVU. He became a vocal correspondent about the production and was the first to comment on the appropriateness of Ice T's casting in the show given the alleged misogyny in his music. Truly was used to programs that included frequent meetings with other writers and said "In some ways it's slightly lonelier" of SVU.

The making of the episode "Lunacy" was covered in detail by authors Susan Green and Randee Dawn. The episode, which filmed between July 14 and July 28, 2008, contained a scene in which detectives watch footage of an astronaut on board the International Space Station. In order to film the weightless scene, Kristina Klebe was harnessed into cables which were later edited out. Members of the production staff appeared as astronauts in a still picture. Another scene involved a fight between Detective Stabler and James Brolin's character. A table made of balsa wood and breakaway glass was used in this scene so that it could be broken easily. Early in "Lunacy", detectives learn that their evidence is degraded due to eels feasting on the body. Prop master Anthony Munafo mentioned that he spent eight hours finding a pet store that would sell them enough eels of the right size.

A later episode "Hell" condemned the activities of the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda. Neal Baer collaborated with the Enough Project to portray child soldiers truthfully and called the episode part of a "continuing commitment to bring the audience stories that resonate with timely social issues." The filming of "Hell" marked the first on-location use of the United Nations building in a television episode.

During the tenth season, the director of photography, George Pattison, expressed his desire to continue using 35mm film. He said "Ours is one of the last shows doing that ... Despite pressure from above to save money, Dick Wolf and our creative producers insist on sticking with a proven formula. Whether it's 100 or 0 degrees outside, these cameras work. And they give beautiful latitude compared with digital." Law & Order: Special Victims Unit continued using motion picture cameras for another two years but was ultimately switched to digital for Season 13.

Cast changes and returning characters

The unit's new Assistant District Attorney, Kim Greylek began appearing in the season premiere played by Michaela McManus. About the role, McManus said, "It's really tricky. This character has a lot of brain power and her vocabulary is different than mine." Despite appearing in the opening credits for every Season 10 episode, McManus' role only lasted for the first half of the season. The assessment Neal Baer gave was that "Sometimes the part and the actor just don't mesh." McManus departed in the episode "Lead". Stephanie March began reprising her role of ADA Alexandra Cabot in the same episode. Until "Lead", Stephanie March's last appearance as ADA Cabot was in the spin-off series Conviction. However, her last SVU appearance was in the sixth season which depicted her as still living in hiding. When asked if her reintroduction to SVU would finally explain how she got out of the witness protection program, March answered "I think this will be nice and neat and make sense." The episode was dedicated to deceased crew member Dennis Radesky.

The season finale "Zebras" was the last episode to star Mike Doyle. His recurring character Ryan O'Halloran is killed after appearing in every season since the fifth. Neal Baer, who wanted to "explore characters' reactions to a death in an interesting way" decided to kill off the character and informed Doyle of the decision a few weeks before the episode was filmed.

Main cast

Special guest starring

Guest stars

The premiere episode "Trials" stars Sara Gilbert as a rape victim who has given up her child and Luke Perry and Julie Bowen as the foster parents who begin taking care of him. When interviewed about his character, Perry stated that "there are always moments when you gotta find the humanity to people who may be considered the bad guy." Gilbert mentioned being a fan of the show and said "People know me more for comedy, I think, so it's always exciting to me when I get to play something so dramatic." For the role of the foster child, the directors held auditions in New York and Los Angeles before casting Jae Head. In the same episode, Mary Beth Evans briefly appeared as a doctor. She said that the head of NBC daytime "wanted to make Days of Our Lives less of an island and get people from our show onto other NBC shows." In the third episode "Swing", Ellen Burstyn portrayed Bernadette Stabler, Elliot Stabler's mother who suffers from bipolar disorder. She won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for the role.

The fourth episode "Lunacy" was the first filmed in the season and starred James Brolin as an astronaut who used to be one of Stabler's role models. Kristina Klebe played an astronaut who is murdered and Chris Elliott played an enthusiast who follows them around. Christopher Meloni, who plays Elliot Stabler, joked "Could there be a more confusing actor to have on this show than someone named Chris Elliot?" The following episode "Retro" which criticized the AIDS denialism movement previously had a working title of "Deniers". It was advertised as being "a big Tamara Tunie episode." Tunie was asked about Martin Mull's character in an interview. She answered "What's frightening is that his argument can sound sane. And Martin is smart enough to make one pause." The sixth episode "Babes" starred actor and singer Jesse McCartney as a chastity advocate. He commented that the role took him into new territory, saying "I play a murder suspect, a super-Catholic conservative white boy. It's definitely a stretch and a leap. It's an emotional role."

The seventh episode "Wildlife" was promoted before the season began for an undercover scene that showed chemistry between Detectives Benson and Stabler. One of the animals shown in this episode was an eleven-month-old white handed gibbon named Kimba. His fictional species in the show was named the "white crested gibbon" because there was no way that a critically endangered black crested gibbon could be used in the filming. The eighth episode "Persona" guest-starred Brenda Blethyn as Caroline Cantwell, a sympathetic fugitive who has been living under a pseudonym. She was nominated for an Outstanding Guest Actress Emmy for her performance. Michael Trucco played a rapist in the tenth episode "Smut". He mentioned a flurry of comments on his message board from Battlestar Galactica fans following his SVU appearance. Kelly Hu played one of his victims seen at the start of the episode. She blogged "I get to be the victim this time. Fun.", referring to her numerous previous roles as a police officer.

Bridger Zadina gave a widely acclaimed performance as a male-to-female transgender teen in "Transitions". He was one of over 200 child actors who auditioned for casting director Jonathan Strauss and appeared in Google's list of top 30 searches after the episode aired. "Transitions" was submitted for Emmy contention but not nominated. The following episode "Lead" featured the return of Stephanie March's character, ADA Alexandra Cabot. March expressed excitement about news that she would work with Judith Light again. When interviewed about the episode, Neal Baer said "I always like to play with the format and it also has flashbacks which we rarely do." The sixteenth episode "Ballerina" guest-starred Carol Burnett as retired dancer Birdie Sulloway. Many of the dancing credits her character mentions in the episode are in fact highlights of Burnett's dancing career. She received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for this episode.

The seventeenth episode "Hell" focused on the lives of child soldiers. Mike Colter portrayed a warlord named Joseph Serumaga. Verne Gay of News 12 Networks exclaimed that Colter's character was "played with scary... conviction." Cicely Tyson played an adoptive parent in the episode. According to Neal Baer, she was contracted to appear with short notice. The episode "Selfish" involved the discovery of a dead baby and the fact that her mother, played by Hilary Duff, covered it up. Initial reports about the episode claimed that it was a response to the Caylee Anthony case. However, Neal Baer cautioned viewers with "You may think it's something familiar, but it turns out it's not." The main focus of the episode is the trial of a mother who inadvertently caused the death of another child by not vaccinating her own child against measles. Neal Baer took a particular liking to this episode in a 2012 interview, saying "It raised this really interesting question about not only what is your responsibility to your own child but to the community of children. It made the show more complex than 'I know what's best for my child.'" In the season finale "Zebras", Carol Kane played John Munch's ex-wife, whom she previously played on Homicide: Life on the Street. About the reprisal, Neal Baer said "We're thrilled to have Gwen Munch return to her true love."