Kelli Giddish Returns to Law & Order: SVU Despite Mariska Hargitay’s Character Admitting It Might ‘Bite Me in the Ass’
NBC first announced in May that Giddish would reprise her role as a series regular
Amanda Rollins is finally home.
Kelli Giddish made her long-awaited return to the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit squad room at the end of the Oct. 16 episode titled “Clickbait.” Rollins (Giddish) arrived to the 16th precinct to speak to her dear friend and colleague Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) about her possible future.
“Kid, come get a drink with us,” Det. Terry Bruno (Kevin Kane) said to the team’s newest member, Det. Jake Griffin (Corey Cott), as he and Captain Renee Curry (Aimé Donna Kelly) headed out to give Benson and Rollins some privacy.
“I’m sorry for the radio silence,” Rollins said as the squad left. “I’ve been weighing my options.”
At the beginning of the episode, Chief Kathryn Tynan (Noma Dumezweni) informed Benson over dinner that she was considering re-assigning Rollins, who reportedly wanted a change, from the Intelligence Unit to SVU.
“So, Tynan was not messing with me?” Benson asked. “You’re actually leaving Intel?”
“Well, she overhauled it beyond recognition. She put her own guy in there. Moved my boss to the Bronx,” Rollins said.
“You called it,” Benson pointed out. “She changed everything. Amanda, I don’t have to tell you that there’s always a spot here for you.”
“You know I’d love to come back here, but playing a pawn in whatever game Tynan is playing with you? It doesn’t sit right,” Rollins insisted.
“Right, and what’s the alternative?” Benson asked.
Rollins mulled her options. “Intel’s off the table. And I could go back to teaching, maybe…”
Benson scoffed.
“Look, is this an offer that is gonna bite me in the ass down the line? Probably. I mean, she’s after something, I just don’t know what. But personally, it sure would be nice to have somebody in there that I could trust,” she admitted.
“Unlike Griffin?” Rollins said.
“He’s fine. He might even be here for the right reasons. I don’t know,” said Benson. “But he’s ambitious, which could be worse.”
With that, Rollins made her decision. “Well, I guess I’ll be keeping a close eye on him around here?”
Benson finally exhaled, knowing her friend and colleague was back.
“Alright, See you in the morning, boss,” Rollins quipped.
Giddish first departed the longtime NBC show in December 2022 in the middle of the 24th season, though she served as a guest star in various episodes throughout seasons 25 and 26.
For the season 24 finale, which was part of a crossover with Law & Order and Law & Order: Organized Crime, Giddish first returned to reveal Rollins was pregnant and expecting her first child with Assistant District Attorney Dominick Carisi (Peter Scanavino). The actress was also expecting in real life.
Giddish also appeared in the season 25 premiere in January 2024, as Rollins and Carisi celebrated the baptism of their newborn son, Nicky. She popped up again later in the season when having left her job as a professor at Fordham University, she was free to help Benson work an SVU case.
Last fall, Giddish’s guest SVU spot came with a promotion to sergeant — and a new gig working for the NYPD Intelligence Unit.
“I got pitched that idea from the writers and I was so excited to actually do that and to know that they were developing Rollins in that way,” Giddish told PEOPLE last fall. Now, just about a year later, Rollins is back at SVU — this time hopefully for good.
