Law & Order: SVU is currently in the earliest weeks of summer hiatus in the 2025 TV schedule, but that doesn't mean it's missing from NBC's lineup. The network has already begun airing Season 26 reruns on Thursday nights, which will continue throughout the summer. I kept watching NBC on May 29 after a new episode of the medical drama Transplant, and the rerun happened to be the winter premiere that put Carisi through the wringer and featured Kelli Giddish as a guest star.
It was a powerful episode the first time around back in January as the follow-up to Carisi's traumatic experience at gunpoint, but it also hit a little differently now that I know two SVU series regulars left ahead of Season 27 while Giddish is coming back full-time.
SVU Is Losing Two Stars
Back in early May, Deadline reported that both Juliana Martinez and Octavio Pisano would not be returning for Season 27 of Law & Order: SVU, which will be the first helmed by new showrunner Michele Fazekas. Season 26 was Martinez's first as Detective Kate Silva, so fans won't have had too long to get used to having Silva in the mix. Pisano, on the other hand, has been on board as Detective Joe Velasco since Season 23. He joined in the wake of two divisive cast departures.
While neither Silva nor Velasco were quite my favorite characters of SVU, I did get used to having them around, and the unit seemed to find its groove by the end of Season 26. It was also nice to just have more detectives in Special Victims again, so I was bummed when the news of Martinez and Pisano being cut broke ahead of the Season 26 finale. I wasn't wailing and gnashing my teeth, but I'll miss having them around.
Then again, I consider "First Light" – a.k.a. the rerun that NBC aired on May 29 and is also available streaming with a Peacock subscription – to be one of the best episodes of Season 26, and "First Light" was light on those two detectives while also bringing in Kelli Giddish.
Kelli Giddish Is Coming Back
Three years after Rollins was cut from Law & Order: SVU, she is finally coming back full time! A few weeks after the news about Octavio Pisano and Juliana Martinez, NBC Insider reported that Kelli Giddish returns to the drama as series regular for Season 27. The development came after several guest star appearances, including one that revealed her promotion to sergeant and command of the NYPD's Intelligence Unit.
It's not clear at the time of writing just how Rollins will be back in the mix on a regular basis, since she is a sergeant now. Benson is out of detectives with Velasco and Silva's exits, which could mean that her colleagues in Special Victims are all officers: Sergeant Tutuola, Sergeant Rollins, and Captain Curry. I of course don't want anybody to be demoted, and Curry technically isn't a regular, but how is Rollins going to go from leading the Intelligence Unit to rejoining Special Victims?
Well, that's a question I'm happy to entertain over the next few months, because I'm one of the many fans who celebrated the news that Kelli Giddish is finally coming back. Her exit was arguably the biggest since Christopher Meloni as Elliot Stabler, and she's one of the Law & Order franchise actors to appear in the most episodes.
SVU likely won't be back for Season 27 until mid-September or early October, but you can join me in checking out reruns when NBC airs them on Thursday nights... whether or not it's because you were watching Transplant beforehand. You can also find all 26 seasons of SVU so far streaming on Peacock.
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