Law & Order: SVU wasted no time in the fall 2024 TV schedule before delivering a treat for longtime fans who have been missing former series regular Kelli Giddish. Not only did the actress make a guest appearance in the third episode of the season, but it’s expected to be the first of several in Season 26 and Rollins is back on the job… sort of. Giddish spoke with CinemaBlend about why this job finally feels right for Rollins, as well as a cute behind-the-scenes story about Peter Scanavino as the other actor behind the Rollisi relationship.
When Rollins was originally written out of SVU halfway through Season 24, she got a happy ending on the relationship front by marrying Carisi but a somewhat odd ending by quitting the NYPD to become a professor at Fordham. It didn’t seem to take long for her to become restless in her new gig, appearing on Law & Order: Organized Crime and toying with the idea of possibly returning to Special Victims in SVU Season 25.
Now, she’s back in the NYPD as a sergeant in the Intelligence Bureau, and Kelli Giddish shared how it feels for her that her beloved character is back to what she’s good at:
It feels really right. I think that they found a role and a position for her that totally piques her interest and uses her strengths to their utmost. She has a singular focus sometimes, which has gotten her in trouble and going down certain rabbit holes. But with this, it’s her focus or her dogged determinism or her curiosity that’s going to lead her down all the tunnels that exist. It’s like, ‘Well played,’ to the showrunners.
Considering that Rollins’ return in Season 26 felt to me much more like a backdoor pilot a la Christopher Meloni’s return than a one-off appearance like her earlier episodes as a guest star, I’d say that the Intelligence Bureau truly does feel like a way for SVU to honor her character without it seeming strange that she’s not around on a weekly basis. Of course, Rollins did have valid reasons for quitting the NYPD when she did in the wake of a shooting, so has she moved past those concerns? I asked Kelli Giddish directly, and she shared:
Now she has a healthy, solid relationship at home with her husband, with Carisi. I think everybody’s aware that once you have that solid foundation, then you can go take chances and you have somebody to fall back on. I just started thinking about their relationship and how great that has been for her, and how that frees her up to go make some more interesting choices, which sounds weird now that you have this family, now that you have a baby. It doesn’t make sense that you could go make crazier choices. But that’s what it is when you have a healthy, stable relationship at home, somebody that’s going to catch you when you fall. I think she definitely feels that with Carisi, and so is able to take these chances, and he supports her.
Speaking of Carisi and the baby, Giddish’s first episode of Season 26 touched on their relationship and home life without turning SVU into an hour of Rollisi, which I’m going to consider a good sign of things to come. I noted to the actress that one thing the SVU fandom seems united on is that it’s always great to see Carisi in dad mode, and she shared a cute BTS factoid:
In real life on set throughout the years, he’s always been the baby whisperer. If a baby is on set and they’re a little upset, we’re like, ‘Give him to Peter, give him to Peter. He’ll calm him down.’ He really is that good with babies and with kids. [laughs] It’s just only right that that should come across on screen and see him as this playful, awesome dad.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that Carisi’s scenes with Jesse and Billie Rollins were written into SVU because Peter Scanavino has the magic touch with soothing babies, but it’s pretty sweet to learn. The reveal also immediately made me think back to a Season 17 episode when Rollins and Carisi were watching reality TV with baby Jesse looking as content as any baby ever has in Carisi’s arms. (Check the scene out here if you’re curious, or revisit the full episode streaming with a Peacock subscription.)
While it remains to be seen when we’ll next see Rollins and how many episodes will feature Kelli Giddish in Season 26, I’d say that SVU is off to a good start. See what’s next with new episodes of Law & Order: SVU on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on NBC, between Law & Order at 8 p.m. ET and Found at 10 p.m. ET. Law & Order: Organized Crime Season 5 is on the way after being moved from airing after SVU on NBC to streaming on Peacock.
