Let’s get something out of the way: I am a ride-or-die Law & Order: SVU fan.
I will stan Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Odafin Tutuola (Ice-T) for the rest of time. I will stick by them through every new, slightly different but very similar squad room, and I will pretend not to know that the famous guest star is the bad guy as soon as I see him. Nothing gives me comfort like that dependable “chung-chung”— what an ex once called “the soundtrack” to my apartment—and I can watch the same episode 25 times, actually, without getting bored. It is — strangely, but not uncommonly — like a weighted blanket for my soul.
However, the 26th season, which concluded on Thursday, May 15, left me wanting more. I hesitate to say that, because I hesitate to say anything critical about anyone’s art, because it’s art, and many talented people worked very hard on it. Also…26 FREAKIN’ SEASONS. That is insane and unheard of and a triumph to be celebrated. But this season felt a little rudderless.
I appreciated that the show kicked off the midseason with an episode called “First Light,” starring the terrific Amy Landecker as a Gisèle Pelicot–inspired victim and the equally terrific Lelan Orser as her abuser. There is no more inspiring woman in the world right now than Pelicot, and her story could have played out over an entire multi-episode arc. Instead it was smashed into 42-ish minutes. If there were ever a need to slow down and take multiple episodes — maybe even an entire season — to unpack a tragedy and the many ways systems and individuals can fail women (something the show often does brilliantly), it was this.
More recently, the May 8 episode ”Aperture” left me scratching my head. It was — I think — about a wealthy couple touring an apartment that had a telescope, through which the wealthy husband spied a sexual assault, except the couple wasn’t wealthy, they just like to look at apartments; and though it was an assault, it was a very different, very hard-to-believe-even-for-SVU kind of assault than detectives first thought. And also the episode was sort of about the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson? (Side note: Do so many people really have telescopes in their apartment? I’ve lived in New York my whole life and nobody I know has a telescope. Anyway.)
Over 26 seasons, the series’ most memorable story lines have been slow burns — clusters of episodes in which drama plays out over a long period of time (the William Lewis saga, which had two eras; The Delia Wilson/Bart Ganzel war, etc.); any number of one-offs that see the righteous comeuppance of crypto bros, racists, men’s-rights activists and other D-bags; and the introduction of crimes so obscure and strange they make you worry a little bit about the writers. (There is not one SVU fan who watched the third season of White Lotus and didn’t immediately think, “family annihilator” as Timothy Ratliff fixed those toxic smoothies.)
For a show that often rips plotlines from headlines, I can understand why things might be overwhelming. News in the most terrible time line moves fast — too fast for our nervous systems — and our attention spans are short. There’s just so much to cover. But lately, no storyline has been given enough room to breathe, and the result is often confounding.
Speaking of room to breathe, I do wish some of the actors who’ve come and gone in recent years got more of it. On May 7 it was announced that Juliana Aidén Martinez, who never quite clicked into place during her one season as Detective Kate Silva, and, more surprisingly, Octavio Pisano (Detective Joe Velasco for three seasons) will exit. They follow a long line of recent blink-and-you’ll-miss-them regulars: Jamie Gray Hyder, Demore Barnes, Molly Barnett, Phillip Winchester. The most exciting but quickly dashed development was when Jordana Spiro went from a standout guest star playing a horrifically abused wife in 2022 to an FBI profiler in 2024, then disappeared forever. (Back to Martinez for a moment: Who can blame her for not clicking? I’m sure any actor playing New Female Detective at the Special Victims Unit comes in with a fair amount of premature PTSD knowing how things have gone for so many before them.)
But the cast shakeup, as sad as it is, especially for Pisano, is likely good news. On the heels of that announcement, it was revealed that season 27 would correct an egregious error—the dismissal of longtime cast member and fan favorite Kelli Giddish. (It was hard not to feel that every new squad member who came and went was trying to fill the Rollins-shaped hole in the place, as was Rollins herself, who kept showing up as a guest star.)
But the best sign that things are looking up for SVU came in April, when Deadline broke the news that Michele Fazekas — who has produced nearly 100 episodes — would become (unbelievably) the show’s first woman showrunner, replacing David Graziano. Playwright Warren Leight served as showrunner for more than a decade, with a break in between, and oversaw some of the series’ best episodes (including ones that were ripped from the headlines, like 2011’s “Scorched Earth,” which took inspiration from the Dominique Strauss-Kahn case, and the ahead-of-its-time body-mod-themed “Strange Fruit,” which featured a not-yet-famous Britt Lower, who was already incandescent). I have a feeling we’re headed for another golden age like that one in the hands of Fazekas and her writing partner, Tara Butters.
“I’m obviously not done with SVU and I have so much responsibility there still, which is keeping me artistically challenged. It’s challenging. In the meantime, I also have had these incredible moments,” Hargitay said in May 2024 about staying on the show since its 1999 premiere. “I’m really happy and fulfilled with my life right now. So, we’ll see what comes. But as of right now, I’m very happy on the ride.”
This is all to say: SVU, you are a titan. I believe in you. Twenty-six is ancient in TV years, in the very best way. And I’m so excited to see where we go from here. (Also, please try another Gisèle Pelicot arc. You — and she and we — deserve it.)
All episodes of Law & Order: SVU are available to stream on Peacock.
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