Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is bringing back a major familiar face in Season 27, but is this good or bad for the show? We just don't really know how to feel.
Law & Order: SVU just wrapped up season 26, with Season 27 already confirmed. It’s been announced that season 27 will be without two faces as Kate Silva (Juliana Martinez) and Joe Velasco
(Octavio Pisano) leaving the series. The season 26 finale saw Velasco getting a promotion, and thus it's logical he’d be moving on from SVU.
However, it is now confirmed that Kelli Giddish will be back full-time as a regular for season 27 as Amanda Rollins. While some fans may be happy to finally see Rollins back on the show in a full-time role, it also showcases how poorly her exit was handled in the first place.
Law & Order: SVU never knew what to do with Rollins’s exit
Law & Order: SVU fans were rocked in season 22 when word came that Giddish was leaving the series. While at first presented as a mutual parting, it soon became obvious Giddish was being pushed out of the show against her will.
The series tried to give her a good send-off as Rollins married Carisi (Peter Scanavino) and got a job as a college professor. She made a couple of cameos with the revelation that she was pregnant with Carisi’s child.
Rollins did return in a recurring role in season 26, with her now promoted to the lead of the NYPD Intelligence Unit, aiding the SVU team in other cases. She was also there to help Carisi cope when he was deeply affected by being caught in a hostage crisis in a convenience store.
Yet it seems as if the writers never knew how to reintegrate Rollins into the SVU stories. Her few appearances didn’t have her as the tough, caring cop we’d come to know, either a harder edge or more simply the wife for Carisi. She and Benson were still friends, yet not as connected as before.
It was also tricky seeing Rollins as a leader of her own unit without much insight to the job or her capabilities. It really seemed the writers couldn't figure out what to do with Rollins for Giddish’s brief appearances. Now they have a bigger challenge working her back in.
Does Rollins need to be back in SVU?
The big question is whether Rollins will be back on SVU. It should be remembered that when Rollins expressed interest in returning as a cop, Benson point-blank said SVU would be a bad move. It would be a step back when Rollins deserved something bigger and better, which she got with the Intelligence Unit.
Benson was right on that, as being back on the squad as a detective after running her own unit makes no sense for Rollins. She’s been the leader, she wouldn’t go back to being just another cop for Benson, no matter their friendship. The issue is that the show can’t balance both the SVU and the Intelligence Unit at once.
Just having Rollins in the wife role also doesn’t work. There’s a minor chance of something like her becoming an investigator for the DA’s office, so she works more with Carisi, which sounds a bit contrived. It’s confusing how this will happen, as Rollins returning to SVU after her stint in Intelligence does seem a step back for her.
It’s up in the air for now as we have to wait to see how the next season unfolds and if other cops join up or leave. It would be somewhat nice to see Rollins back on SVU in a bigger way to make up for her bad exit. Yet some fans may think a spinoff of Rollins in the lead is better than her being back in a supportive role as SVU welcomes her back.
Stay tuned for more news and updates on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on Precinct TV.