NCIS and Blue Bloods vet Jennifer Esposito is heading to Law & Order: SVU. That will make her second visit to the NBC procedural, having previously appeared on the series in Season 1, but she'll have a new role this time around. So, who is the actress playing now?
Jennifer Esposito will take on the role of Sgt. Phoebe Baker for Law & Order: SVU. Baker is in charge of the Vice squad, so she'll have some pull. That gig will ultimately lead to Baker teaming up with the SVU team, per TVLine, and the upcoming team-up sounds might risqué.
A joint investigation into a "chain of pop-up brothels" will put Baker on the same investigation as Olivia Benson and the rest. She won't totally be a stranger to all involved, at least. According to the report, Baker worked with Ice-T's Fin during their time in Narcotics 20 years previous.
Ice-T recently took to social media to celebrate co-starring with Jennifer Esposito, but not so much celebrating how cold it was.
Fans will not have to wait too long to see Baker in action. Jennifer Esposito will make her Law & Order: SVU debut as Sgt. Baker in the episode airing February 14. The report does not indicate that this is anything other than a one-time role for the actress, so fans should savor it.
Not having her stick around long enough to set up a full-time spot down the line seems slightly odd. The character has history with Fin, and Jennifer Esposito is an established star within primetime crime dramas. Baker's backstory seems like solid groundwork that could set up a recurring role. If this was not meant to be a longer-term addition, why cast someone as well-known as Jennifer Esposito?
That said, one-off characters making brief interludes is a common occurrence for crime procedurals, so it would not be super strange for Jennifer Esposito to only put forth this one-episode stint before calling it. Totally speculating here, but maybe that is all her schedule can allow right now.
Jennifer Esposito is staying busy. Her guest stint on Law & Order: SVU is not the only role she has on the horizon. Esposito will have a significant role on Amazon's upcoming superhero drama,The Boys, with Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg executive producing. As she has done many times before, she will star as a law enforcement officer on that show, too.
Jennifer Esposito somewhat recently starred on CBS' crime procedural NCIS during Season 14 before leaving, and starred on CBS's Blue Bloods for two seasons before all that. In recent years, she's also been in the casts for Mistresses, Taxi Brooklyn and The Affair.
It makes sense for another popular crime procedural, such as Law & Order: SVU to want to bring Jennifer Esposito on-board, since she is a procedural pro at this point. Yep, she had two bit parts in the original L&O series as well.
NBC must be paying attention to the actress. One of her more recent TV roles was on the network's crime drama, Blindspot, which she appeared on for two episodes.
It has to be fun for Jennifer Esposito to return to a series she was on almost 20 years ago. Not only is it evidence of her perseverance in the industry. It is also a testament to how long Law & Order: SVU has been on the air.
How often can an actor return to a television show they were on two decades ago? Find out what Jennifer Esposito's Sgt. Phoebe Baker gets up to when her episode of Law & Order: SVU airs Thursday, February 14, at 10 p.m. ET on NBC. The show is among many airing new episodes this winter.
