Law & Order: SVU Officially Expands Benson’s S27 Team After 2 Major Character Exits

After saying goodbye to two major members, NBC is officially expanding Olivia Benson’s team in Law & Order: SVU season 27. The Mariska Hargitay-led show is currently the longest-running scripted show on the air, and it is not showing any signs of slowing down anytime soon. Having been on broadcast for almost three decades, it has seen its fair share of personnel changes, so the latest round of it shouldn’t be surprising.

So much has already happened in Law & Order: SVU season 27. The year opened with the death of Captain Cragen. There were also several cast changes, with Amanda Rollins officially coming back to SVU, while both Kat Silva and Joe Velasco left the squad. Now, Benson’s team is once again going through another change, albeit in a more official manner.

Per Deadline, Corey Cott has been promoted to be a series regular in Law & Order: SVU season 27. Playing Jake Griffin, the youngest detective on the show joined in episode 2 of the cycle and has been a consistent presence since then. Despite being a new character, he has been at the center of one of the year’s most intense storylines, considering his ties to Chief Tynan and Benson’s brewing conflict with her boss.

NBC

Cott’s move to being a series regular is somewhat surprising. Wolf Entertainment is not known to make early promotions like this. A great example of this is how Jake Lockley wasn’t designated as a series regular in Chicago Fire up until he was already on first-responder procedural for a few years. It’s unclear what prompted Dick Wolf, his team, and NBC to make a swift decision for Griffin.

Regardless, this is a good indication that Griffin will be a big part of Law & Order: SVU season 27’s storytelling moving forward. It’s worth remembering that before the show went to its fall finale, Benson effectively got into a conflict with Chief Tynan. Given Griffin’s relationship with Tynan, the Manhattan SVU members are still a little cautious when dealing with their newest member, and that adds fresh tension to the procedural’s ongoing storytelling.

Whether Griffin can be trusted is still anybody’s guess at this point. He can actually be a plant from Tynan to strongarm Benson to leave his team and join her political agenda. However, besides that aspect of the story, Law & Order: SVU season 27 is doing a good job tackling his arc as a newbie in the department — something that the project hasn’t done in quite a while. Hopefully, however, his stint in the series lasts beyond the 2025-2026 TV cycle.