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Law & Order: Special Victims Unitcontinues to shatter TV records as it completes its 26th season on the air, and the procedural will return for season 27. Launched in 1999 as a spin off of Dick Wolf’s wildly successfulLaw & Order,SVUfollows the detectives of the NYPD’s Special Victims Unit, a division that specializes in investigating sexually-based offenses throughout the city. Managing to outlive the flagshipLaw & Orderseries (which was canceled in 2010 but has since been revived),SVUcontinues to set the record as the longest-running live-action scripted series in TV history.
Anchoring the series since its inception in the 1990s, Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson is the heart and soul ofSVU, even thoughBenson’s team has changeddrastically over the years. Despite these changes,SVUcontinues to pull in big viewership numbers and shows no signs of slowing down as it begins to creep close to its groundbreaking 30th season. ThoughSVUis a spin off, it has become something of a flagship series for the entirefranchise, and the continued popularity ofSpecial Victims Unitnot only guarantees season 27, but helps spur on additional seasons of the other spin offs.
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Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has been nominated for (and won) many awards, and its best episodes are a big reason why.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 27 Latest News
Changes Are On The Way For SVU
In addition to NBC announcing a renewal forLaw & Order: SVU, there are also some changes coming to the show.Two of the newer cast members (Juliana Martinez and Octavio Pisano) are out with a familiar face (Kelli Giddish) returning full-time, which will cause the series to shake up the dynamic of the cast a little bit going forward. There is also a shakeup behind the scenes.
SVUis getting a new showrunner for season 26.Michele Fazekas replaces David Graziano, who has been the showrunner for the last three seasons. Fazekas is no stranger to the series though. She wrote and produced during the show’s earlier seasons, which could mean a return to the style of the early days of the series.Fazekas is also the first female showrunner in the show’s 26-year history.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 27 Is Confirmed
SVU Is Part Of NBC’s Fall 2025 Lineup
Law & Order: SVUis on solid ground, but that’s not to say the entire franchise is so certain
NBC renewedSVUseason 27, announcing the renewal just one week before the season 26 finale. The originalLaw & Orderseries has also been renewed by the network. Fortunately for fans of the long-running procedural,there’s almost no chance that NBC would pull the plug so suddenly on one of its crown jewels.It’s likely the network would make an announcement ahead of time to allow closure for fans and the show as a whole.
Law & Order: SVUis on solid ground, but that’s not to say the entire franchise is so certain. While the originalLaw & Orderis stable enough to earn another outing,Law & Order: Organized Crimeis anything but guaranteed. The Stabler-centric spin off wasmade into a Peacock exclusivefor its fifth season. While this will likely have no effect onSVU,the faltering ofOrganized Crimedoes prove that theLaw & Orderfranchise is potentially vulnerable.
Law & OrderandLaw & Order: SVUwill air on Thursday nights on NBC when the 2025 television season begins.
Law & Order: SVUseason 26 debuted on July 10, 2025, and concluded on July 15, 2025.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 27 Cast Details
Expect Benson & Her Team To Return For Season 27
Though changes in the cast are an almost constant phenomenon inLaw & Order: SVU’s long history, the cast of season 27 will mostly remain consistent.Mariska Hargitay will return as Captain Olvia Benson, a role she’s played since the show began in 1999. Joining Hargitay will be long-time co-star Ice-T as Sergeant “Fin” Tutuola, alongside Peter Scanavino as Assistant District Attorney Dominick Carisi, Jr. Also expected back is Kevin Kane as Detective Terry Bruno
There are, however, two major cast departures for SVU season 27. Junior Detective Joe Velasco (played by Octavio Pisano) is not returning after season 26 and the newest member of Benson’s team, played by Juliana Aidén Martinez, will not reprise her role as Junior Detective Kate Silva.
Previously, one question mark was thereturn of Kelli Giddish as Sergeant Amanda Rollins. Giddish was let go from the series in season 24, but the actor has continued to drop back in because of her character’s ties to the team.Giddish was upgraded to a recurring guest star for season 26, but has been renamed a series regular for season 27.
Kelli Giddish
Amanda Rollins
Law & Order: SVUhas made good use of its shared universe in the past, allowing the series to cross over with other shows under the umbrella of Dick Wolf’s creations. That means thatseason 27 could also see characters pop up from theChicagouniverse or the otherLaw & Orderseries. Season 26 did feature a crossover with the flagship show, and Chris Meloni, who stars inOrganized Crime, and Mariska Hargitay have both appeared in crossovers due to the relationship between their characters. Fans can likely expect more of that in the coming season.
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Mariska Hargitay’s favorite Law & Order: SVU episode is not her Emmy-winning turn in the series.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Season 27 Story Details
More Cases For The SVU Team To Crack
There aren’t going to be too many surprises in the story ofLaw & Order: SVUseason 27, and the series has been remarkably consistent for its nearly 30-year run. As is the case with most ofthe best procedurals on TV, eachSVUepisode is a standalone story involving a case for the team to solve before the conclusion of the weekly installment. SometimesSVUwill tackle cases ripped from the headlines, and others are totally fictional.
What we do know aboutSVUseason 27 is that Benson will have at least one open spot on her team.With the departure of Velasco (who received a promotion in the season 26 finale), that leaves room for Rollins to become an SVU team member again if the show does not keep her as part of the Intelligence Unit to start the season. While Silva was not written out in the season 26 finale, the actor is not returning for season 27, so that would potentially leave another open spot on the team for a new character to join.
It’s also possible that the case of the season 26 finale - a serial killer who targeted therapists - could return in season 27.The finale ended with the word that the confession Benson and her team got might not be recognized in court, leaving room for the show to further explore the court case in the future. That could provide the show with a smaller arc to follow about procedure in serial cases inLaw & Order: SVUseason 27, since the series has not been shy about revisiting previous cases even years later.
It’s impossible to predict exactly what will happen inLaw & Order: Special Victims Unitseason 27, though fans know that most of their favorite characters will be back.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Cast
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is a television series that premiered in 1999. Set in the criminal justice system of New York City, it follows an elite team of detectives who investigate sexually-based offenses, focusing on their efforts to solve complex cases and seek justice for victims.
