Law & Order: SVU Season 26’s Absent Character Is The Key To A Powerful Benson Plot In Season 27

One absent Law & Order: SVU season 26 character’s return is the key to the most powerful possible storyline for Benson (Mariska Hargitay) in season 27. Although a procedural, the best episodes of Law & Order: SVU include subplots about the characters’ personal lives, especially Benson. Throughout the years, she has explored the way the trauma of being conceived via rape and raised by an alcoholic and abusive mother has affected her, and in more recent seasons, her relationship with her adopted son, Noah (Ryan Buggle), has been central to her arc.

Unfortunately, Law & Order: SVU season 26 took a step back from Benson’s personal life. Instead, the season focused on ADA Sonny Carisi’s (Peter Scanavino) trauma responses, especially in the second half of the season after he had survived being held hostage by robbers at his favorite bodega. There were few, if any, stories about Benson’s life, while Rollins (Kelli Giddish) appeared occasionally, but most often to support her husband through his ordeal. Law & Order: SVU missed a big opportunity for a powerful Benson storyline because of this setup, and hopefully it will correct this mistake in season 27.

Noah Was Absent For Most Of Law & Order: SVU Season 26

He Had Cameo Appearances In Only Two Episodes

While Noah has been a recurring part of Law & Order: SVU since Benson adopted him at the end of season 16, he was barely present in season 26. In most seasons, Benson has had a subplot involving Noah on a recurring basis. Thus, it was bizarre that Noah was neither seen nor mentioned until the 2025 Law & Order crossover in April, and when he did return, he was only in one scene.

Strangely, although Noah’s return involved a stranger trying to lure him into a car, Benson never had a follow-up conversation with him about the incident. Noah then appeared briefly in another episode, in which Benson and Rollins walked their kids to school, but he had no role beyond helping Rollins’ daughter carry her musical instrument. These cameo appearances were unsatisfying, especially because Benson never mentioned him when he was off-screen, making it appear that he doesn’t exist in her life.

It was especially glaring an omission in Law & Order: SVU season 26, episode 15, which involved a woman who had sex with an underage boy while under the impression that he was a legal adult. Considering that this woman accused the boy of spiking her drink and his family accused her of statutory rape, it made no sense for Benson not to worry about how Noah would behave in a similar situation. However, there was no mention of him whatsoever during the episode, even though Benson tends to relate being a mother to Noah to cases like this.

Giving Noah A Bigger Role In Law & Order: SVU Season 27 Will Result In A Powerful Arc For Benson

It Would Allow Her To Grapple With The Complexities of Raising A Boy In A Climate That Promotes Toxic Masculinity

If Noah returns in Law & Order: SVU season 27, it could lead to Benson’s most powerful arc. Benson undoubtedly wants to believe that she raised Noah to behave respectfully toward women, and in the past, their close relationship suggested that she was doing a good job of this. Noah reported a TikTok video to her that he saw in which a girl claimed she had been raped and felt comfortable enough to tell Benson that he identified as bisexual when he was a pre-teen.

However, Noah is now a teenager, which makes him more experimental. Benson has handled cases with teenage boys having issues or worse, deliberately ignoring the need for consent to be intimate with someone. In many of these cases, the perpetrators’ parents are shocked that their sons would behave in this manner. Additionally, some of these involve an element of peer pressure or ideas in the perpetrator’s social group about what it means to be a “man” that contributes to heinous crimes.

For these reasons, Benson should be keener about whether Noah will follow the values she’s tried to instill in him or be influenced by cultural ideas about male-female relationships at school. It would be especially powerful if a case took place at Noah’s school or involving a boy who was similar to him. Conversely, Benson could have to grapple with being the parent in this situation if someone accused Noah of inappropriate behavior. These scenarios would force Benson to confront her fears that Noah could become a predator given his origins despite her best efforts to guide him away from that path.

Rollins’ Return Can Significantly Improve Noah & Benson’s Proposed Law & Order: SVU Season 27 Story

They Can Continue To Bond Over Being Mothers Doing A Difficult Job

Noah’s second appearance in Law & Order: SVU season 26 planted the seed for Rollins to be involved in this potential storyline. During Noah’s second appearance, Rollins and Benson walked the kids to school and discussed how nice it was to be able to do “normal mom” activities together. Their discussion about how difficult it is to parent children while dealing with sexual predators all day long easily leads into a story about Benson’s concerns about Noah.

Rollins also has pre-teen girls, and while she was out of town, Carisi worried about a man who leered at their nine-year-old daughter. Thus, there is more than enough of a foundation to include Rollins in this story. One particularly powerful direction Law & Order: SVU can go in is for one of Rollins’ daughters to report that she “feels uncomfortable” around Noah. This storyline would force Benson to deal with the possibility that her son may not be behaving as he should.

Since Rollins will be returning full-time, this would be the perfect time to offer this type of character-driven story. Even without this scenario, however, Law & Order: SVU will miss its biggest story possibility if it doesn’t bring Noah back for an arc involving Benson’s attempt to raise a teenage son while aware that boys can become predators if not guided away from it.