Law & Order: Organized Crime’s SVU Crossover Wouldn’t Have Worked Without Amanda Rollins

Law & Order: Organized Crime and SVU teamed up for the start of a huge crossover, but they required the help of Amanda Rollins for added success.

At long last, Amanda Rollins has returned to television, and her function in Law & Order: Organized Crime’s crossover with SVU was essential. Fans of Law & Order: SVU were fortunate in the news of Kelli Giddish’s return to the franchise, which was confirmed only several weeks ago that former Detective Rollins was to appear in the highly awaited Law & Order crossover event. The news was incredibly well received, particularly because most viewers were still recovering from Law & Order: SVU’s dismaying executive decision to ax her from the series.

Although Giddish’s exit hurt SVU, affecting the cast, characters and viewers of the series alike, the Law & Order franchise was able to redeem the decision by including Rollins in Organized Crime and SVU’s crossover investigation of a series of rapes that generated from a large-scale ring of criminal activity. The circumstances of the investigation reached the precincts of both Olivia Benson’s Special Victims Unit and the task force occupied in part by Elliot Stabler, but the severity of the case necessitated all hands on deck. As might be expected, Law & Order smartly employed the help of Amanda Rollins and even saw to make her a critical component in the process of the case.

Law & Order: Organized Crime Needed Amanda Rollins As A Profiler

The Law & Order crossover investigation was set up in SVU season 24, episode 21’s “Bad Things,” where the DNA found in a woman’s rape kit checked back to inmate Junior Suarez and an OCCB unsolved murder causing Benson to call on her old friend Stabler for collaboration. In Organized Crime season 3, episode 21’s “Shadowërk,” together, Benson and Stabler’s teams uncover a worldwide crime-for-hire ring. Enlisting the help of personal connections to take down the multifaceted criminal organization becomes a priority for the teams, and unbeknownst to Benson, Stabler soon believes recruiting former detective Rollins’ profiling expertise is a necessity.

Once Stabler and Rollins are united, however, it becomes blatantly obvious that she will not assist the investigation in the hands-on way viewers are used to seeing of her. For one, Rollins seems exceptional in the teaching position she retired from SVU to start a new chapter in life, but also, to the excitement of audiences, Rollins appears heavily pregnant. While Rollins would be incapable of heavy field work with the rest of them, Stabler looks to her, and the subject of criminology she is now especially well versed in as a university professor, to aid in their exceptionally grotesque investigation.

What Rollins’ Role Could Mean For The Future Of Law & Order

Audiences initially get a glimpse of Rollins teaching her class on the psychology of criminals – the subject suits her, but a confession to Stabler exposes a yearning for her previous life in crime fighting. The boredom expressed in her current employment suggests that the Law & Order franchise is flirting with the prospect of Rollins returning in a recurring role. Her pregnancy and assured relationship with SVU regular Dominick Carisi hinted Law & Order fans might see Rollins in the franchise again, but her profiling prowess essential to this investigation indicates she may be a resource for Law & Order: SVU and Law & Order: Organized Crime at some point in the future as well.