Should Law & Order: SVU return for Season 27, which seems likely, it will do so without two of its regular cast.
Octavio Pisano, who has played Detective Joe Velasco since Season 23, and Juliana Aidén Martinez, who was introduced this year as Detective Kate Silva, will not be back as series regulars, Deadline reports. A reason has not been given for these exits, nor do we know if either could return in a guest star capacity next year. Shakeups in the squad aren’t new; only Mariska Hargitay, who stars as Captain Olivia Benson, has been with the show from the beginning. Ice-T (Sergeant Odafin “Fin” Tutuola) joined the series in Season 2. (Christopher Meloni starred as Detective Eliot Stabler for the first 12 seasons before exiting and now leads his own spinoff, Organized Crime, which is releasing its fifth season on Peacock.)
This isn’t the only change the series will see for a 27th season. A new showrunner will be in charge. Michele Fazekas is taking over (and will be the show’s first female showrunner) from David Graziano, who has held the position for three seasons.
According to Deadline’s report, we’ll have to wait to see if the SVU Season 26 finale, “Post-Rage,” on Thursday, May 15, reveals how their absences will be explained next season. It could very well be that the Season 27 premiere will feature a couple lines of dialogue to explain where they are, like different units in the NYPD. The logline for the Season 26 finale teases, “Benson investigates a string of sexual assaults targeting local female psychiatrists. The squad celebrates a promotion.” Could Velasco or Silva be the promotion and it takes that person out of SVU?
In addition to Hargitay and Ice-T, SVU also stars Peter Scanavino as ADA Sonny Carisi and Kevin Kane as Detective Terry Bruno. Aimé Donna Kelly recurs as Captain Curry. And Kelli Giddish, after exiting as a series regular in Season 24, has been recurring this year as now-Sergeant Amanda Rollins.
Are you going to miss Detectives Velasco and Silva? Let us know how you’d like SVU to write them out in the comments section below.
Law & Order: SVU, Thursdays, 9/8c, NBC
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