Kelli Giddish Shares the 1 Thing She Regrets Not Asking Mariska Hargitay While Working on Law & Order: SVU (Exclusive)
The actress opens up to PEOPLE about her return to ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’
Kelli Giddish is opening up about her one regret in her friendship with Law & Order: Special Victims Unit costar Mariska Hargitay.
At the Law & Order 25th Anniversary Celebration in New York City on Jan. 6, the actress, 46, told PEOPLE that she wishes she asked Hargitay, 61, more for business advice.
“She’s a great businesswoman, and it’s like a regret that I have,” Giddish says. “That, and not writing down at least one quote from Ice-T every day. But I should have, I should have written it down. I worked with him every day in and out for so many years and I’m like, ‘I should have a whole journal!'”
Giddish and her character Amanda Rollins made their long-awaited series regular return to Law & Order: SVU in October. 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 after leaving her job as a professor at Fordham University 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’m so happy to be back,” says Giddish. “It’s definitely like riding a bike, but I’m not gonna lie, [when I was off the show] I felt like, ‘Hey… how are you guys doing over there?’ I did feel like I was missing a lot.”
“Now that I’m back, it is totally like riding a bike,” she continues. “Also, we’ve got a new head writer at the helm, we’ve got a new producing director. It’s female-led, which feels a little more like everything’s all aligned. Even after however many seasons, it still feels new and exciting.”
Giddish says she’ll always be “so proud” to be a part of the show’s legacy.
“I’m happy to be back in the fold,” she says. “It feels really good for all the fans to be that excited and to be happy. I’m very grateful.”
