Camryn Manheim as Dixon in Law & Order Season 23.

Law & Order is on the way back to primetime with a new episode following a brief break, and the season is getting close to its ending. The previous episode ended on a twist that made me wonder if the show might tweak its format a bit after being renewed for Season 24. Now, in light of some information about the next case on May 2, it seems like the original Law & Order could be following the examples of Special Victims Unit and Organized Crime when it comes to family from earlier in the 2024 TV schedule for Lieutenant Kate Dixon, played by Camryn Manheim.

Per NBC, the next new episode of Law & Order is called “Castle in the Sky” and will air in the show’s usual 8 p.m. ET time slot on Thursday, May 2. While much of the official episode description makes this sound like a regular case of the week, there’s one detail that had me flashing back to moments from SVU and OC this year. Check out the official description below:

When a real estate developer is found dead in one of his buildings, Shaw and Riley sift through a long list of suspects. Concerned for the welfare of the defendant’s young daughter, Dixon and her son plead with Price and Maroun for help.

Dixon’s son is going to be involved in the next new episode! We don’t know too much about the lieutenant’s home life or as a parent, although she did reveal in Season 22 that her son was deaf and used ASL, allowing Dixon herself to pitch in as an interpreter on a case. In fact, the character even used her skills to help Olivia Benson over on SVU Season 24, in an episode that had me doubting if SVU and OC were on the same page with their lead characters.

And while Dixon’s son being mentioned in the description doesn’t mean that he or his relationship with his mom will be huge parts of the episode, I couldn’t help but think about how the other two Law & Order franchise shows have incorporated more family elements in the 2024 TV season. On Organized Crime, that has actually included casting two Stabler brothers for some important roles in Season 4. On SVU, arguably the most emotional episode of the show’s milestone 25th episode involved Benson navigating a very tricky but inevitable subject with her son.

Bring on the family ties in the Law & Order world, I say! The procedural format that has been such a hit going back to the ’90s doesn’t have to change to include more of the characters’ home lives, and I’m hoping that Dixon’s son appears in enough of the next episode to qualify as more than a cameo. Unfortunately, the promo for the episode doesn’t give away details on that front:

Luckily, speculating about what comes next isn’t too stressful for Law & Order at the moment, since it has already been renewed for Season 24 in the 2024-2025 TV season. Law & Order: SVU will also be back, this time for Season 26. Law & Order: Organized Crime hasn’t been so fortunate so far, and the latest news is that the show could move over to streaming for fans with a Peacock Premium subscription.