'Law & Order: SVU' Season 17 Cast News, Update: Whoopi Goldberg and Virgina Madsen Snag Guesting Spots For This Season
NBC's long-running and hit police-procedural drama TV series "Law & Order: SVU" is now ready to kick off another action-filled 17th season but new casting reports are still coming over this week pointing out to two guest stars. Meanwhile, the network announced a courtroom docu-drama spinoff from the series.
The report from TVLine said that "The View" co-host Whoopi Goldberg has signed on for a guesting spot in Season 17. As revealed further by the site, the Emmy-winning star will appear as Janette Grayson, who is described as "a Department of Child Services supervisor whose allegedly faked reports put multiple children at risk."
The character, who is set to debut in the 4th episode of Season 17, will be on trial "when the agency's internal policies bring it the wrong kind of publicity."
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The other newcomer in the show is actress Virginia Madsen, whose appearance follows two episodes after that of Goldberg's.
Citing The Hollywood Reporter, the "Witches of East End" will play the mother of Rollins (Kelli Giddish), Beth Anne. THR, in turn, quoted executive producer Warren Leight saying that the character is rather a "very protective matriarch" who thinks that her daughter "can't make a mistake and Amanda has turned her back on the family."
She will be joined in Episode 6 by "True Blood" alum Lindsay Pulsipher, who will be reprising the role of Rollins' "troublesome sister," Kim.
On related news, TVLine's sister website Deadline tipped off that the network has already greenlighted yet another "Law & Order" spin-off series titled "Law & Order: You the Jury."
The one-hour courtroom docu-drama show, according to the publication, is intended to be "live as well as interactive."
"Law & Order: You The Jury puts the power of the law directly into viewers' hands with real life legal cases. The audience serves as the jury and will not only determine the verdict, but will also be able to vote throughout the trial on the veracity of witnesses and persuasiveness of evidence," the show's description provided by Deadline reads.
For the meantime, the Mariska Hargitay-led "Law and Order: SVU" Season 17 premieres September 23 on NBC.
