Dick Wolf is known for his creation of sprawling TV universes, including that ofFBI, which includedFBI: Most Wanteduntil the show’s cancelation earlier this year, andLaw & Order, which includes the spinoff seriesLaw & Order: Organized Crime. Like many Wolf properties, the shows have some actors in common.
One such actor is Dylan McDermott. While inFBI: Most Wanted, McDermott played a hero and the leader of a team of FBI agents tracking down fugitives, he is at the opposite end of the legal spectrum inLaw & Order: Organized Crime. McDermott makes a compelling villain, and it’s time for him to return to his other Dick Wolf series.
Dylan McDermott’s Richard Wheatley Is Still Law & Order: Organized Crime’s Best Villain
McDermott Starred In Law & Order: Organized Crime Seasons 1 And 2
WhenLaw & Order: Organized Crimespun out of the events ofLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit, it centered on the effort to bring down the criminal organization suspected of being responsible for the death of Elliot Stabler’s (Christopher Meloni) wife. McDermott played Richard Wheatley during those first two seasons.
Wheatley is the son of the leader of an organized crime family. While he spent his life rejecting his father’s world, he launched a criminal enterprise of his own, which largely centered on selling stolen drugs via digital platforms and doctors’ offices instead of on street corners.
Wheatley is a compelling villain to watch because of how he operates. He is responsible for the murder of his own father, he ropes his kids into working for him, and sees his family more as possessions than people. He is one of the darkest and most manipulativevillainsOrganized Crimehas featuredto date.
Wheatley offers a fascinating counterpoint for both Stabler and Sergeant Bell(Danielle Moné Truitt). He and Stabler are both devoted to their work and have very short fuses. He and Bell are meticulous planners who will go out of their way to verify they succeed. Positioning Stabler and Bell as a united front against Wheatley is perfect.
Wheatley’s time onOrganized Crimedoes not end with his arrest or his death, either. The character is in a car that goes into the water, butWheatley’s body is never found, leaving his story open-ended, just waiting for a resurgence.
Richard Wheatley is one of themost dangerousOrganized Crimevillains, and he has been in the wind for three years, making it the perfect time for his return.
Wheatley’s Return Can Fix Law & Order: Organized Crime’s Season 5 Mistakes
Organized Crime Season 5 Focused Too Heavily On The Stablers
While it’s still unclearifOrganized Crimewill get a season 6, Richard Wheatley’s return for a new season could go a long way toward improving the current state of the series. WhenLaw & Order: Organized Crimemade the move from NBC to Peacock for season 5, fans thought it would help the show.
Unfortunately, the move toPeacock did not doOrganized Crimeany favors. While the move could have allowed for darker storylines and more in-depth exploration of its ensemble, the story shifted to focus largely on the Stabler family, even removing some of the main members of the police ensemble for episodes at a time.
While bringing in a villain with a vendetta against Stabler might seem like a push to make it even more of the Stabler show, that’s not the case. The entire originalOrganized Crimeteam pushed to take down Wheatley and his organization.Wheatley getting away stings for a group of people who invest months, sometimes years, in undercover operations.
While some of those original characters might be gone, Bell and Stabler remain with new teammates they can trust. The current team knows the stakes of taking down someone like Wheatley.
Bringing in Wheatley for a potentialOrganized Crimeseason 6 could help bring the show back to basics. The show originated as a spinoff utilizing undercover operations to bring down organized crime. While yes, Elliot Stabler is the connective tissue between it and the otherLaw & Ordershows, he is not the only piece.
The series firmly sets itself inside theLaw & Orderuniverse by bringing in characters from the other shows and allowing Stabler to cross over into them.Law & Orderhas never been a franchise that makes one family the center of its stories. The victims of crime and those working to bring them justice have always been the center.
Wheatley has a lot of victims, a lot of people he has manipulated, and he has likely been building himself a whole new criminal empire for three years. He is exactly the kind of character the show is made to take down.
He is also the kind of character that could bring back fans of theLaw & Orderfranchise who might not have stuck with the show when it moved to Peacock. SinceWheatley is a fan-favorite villain, he could certainly draw in the audience.
Wheatley returning to the series is just whatLaw & Order: Organized Crimeseason 6 needs to get back to the success of its early seasons.
