'Law & Order: SVU' Season 19 News: Two Actors Join Harvey Weinstein-Inspired Episode
"Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" ("Law & Order: SVU") has added two new guest stars in its Harvey Weinstein-inspired episode on season 19.
The long-running cop drama will be tackling the Harvey Weinstein scandal in a future episode, and two veterans have been tapped for the outing. Reports note that Martin Donovan ("Weeds," "Homeland") and Yasmine Al Massri ("Quantico") are officially on board as guest stars for the said episode.
Donovan will take on the role of a commercial airline pilot, while Al Massri will play as his co-pilot who accuses him of sexual misconduct. Appropriately titled "Flight Risk," the episode is scheduled to air when the series returns in January.
"Here we have a closed industry, and we see how everybody has been protecting the guy for years — but we also offer a solution to the whole problem ... a really clever legal solution," showrunner Michael Chernuchin said about the upcoming episode.
Writers for the series had already been working on the episode when the Weinstein scandal broke in early October. Production for an episode about rape culture in the workplace was in development even before The New York Times exposed the decades of alleged sexual harassment by the disgraced producer.
Al Massri is best known for playing a pair of twins for two seasons of "Quantico." Her new role as a co-pilot will certainly be very different from her role on the ABC show, presumably because she will just be playing one character.
"Law & Order: SVU" is famous for ripping stories directly from headlines ever since it began almost two decades ago. Considering how the sexual assault stories in Hollywood made huge headlines this year, Cinemablend notes the show will likely tackle the Weinstein case more directly someday.
"Law & Order: SVU" season 19 returns with new episodes on Wednesday, Jan. 3, at 9 p.m. EST on NBC.
