Law & Order: SVU has already stacked Season 22 with some familiar faces, ranging from a former fan-favorite A.D.A. to an Arrowverse veteran to none other than Christopher Meloni as Stabler in less than a month, but one more is still on the way with a family connection. James Morrison is reprising his role as Rollins' father, and based on his previous appearance, that could mean some emotional turmoil for his daughter.
James Morrison, who made his Law & Order: SVU debut as Jim Rollins in Season 21, recently filmed an episode of Season 22. Morrison vaguely teased the role with a tweet on February 28 mentioning travel, and SVU showrunner Warren Leight responded by thanking him for "flying into our world for a few days," using the Twitter post to commend Morrison for his "beautiful work."
Neither James Morrison nor Warren Leight elaborated on what to expect from Morrison's return to Law & Order: SVU, but Give Me My Remote reports that Morrison will be back as Jim Rollins in the upcoming episode called "In the Year We All Fell Down." Although that episode title seems like it could probably refer to pretty much anything that has happened in the year since March 2020, a little over a year has passed since Morrison debuted as Jim Rollins in February 2020, and that may not be a coincidence.
In James Morrison's first episode of Law & Order: SVU, fans got a look at the man who had been mentioned by Rollins several times over the years, and not exactly in glowing terms. He showed up in New York when his other daughter, Kim, was facing prison time over drug charges.
Rollins eventually agreed to let her dad stay with her, but Jim overdosed and wound up in the hospital, and he left without any closure, ripping the IV out of his arm and leaving without saying goodbye to his daughters. He left a note saying "Papa was a rolling stone" and he left to avoid taking some tests to take better care of himself.
Basically, I don't see Rollins opening her dad back to New York with open arms. After all, she had already decided that he couldn't stay with her and her daughters, and that was before he rolled out of town without saying anything. Still, it should be interesting to see how Rollins does react, and if there's a deeper meaning to the "In the Year We All Fell Down" episode title.
There is no news at this point of when the episode will air, but presumably sometime in April or May. NBC is currently hyping the April 1 crossover event between Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime that will launch Christopher Meloni's Stabler spinoff.
The return of James Morrison follows the returns of Raúl Esparza as Barba, Wentworth Miller as as Isaiah Holmes, and Annabella Sciorra as Carolyn Barek, although Sciorra technically debuted in the expansive Law & Order franchise on Criminal Intent. Then, of course, we have Christopher Meloni on the way in the upcoming crossover, and people are already excited.
Law & Order: SVU is currently on a brief break but will be back April 1 for Stabler's big return on NBC at 9 p.m. ET, followed by the series premiere of Law & Order: Organized Crime at 10 p.m. ET.
