NBC’s ‘Law & Order’ Portrays Luigi Mangione-Inspired Character as Folk Hero

NBC’s latest episode of Law & Order draws inspiration from the real-life case of Luigi Mangione, the New York man who killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024 — and made him into a folk hero.

The episode, titled “Inconvenience,” features a character named Robbie Ballard, a grocery store worker who assassinates a health insurance executive outside a Manhattan hotel after his sister’s cancer treatment is denied.

The show presents Ballard as a complex and somewhat sympathetic figure.