Law & Order: SVU is taking Maddie’s (Alison Elaine) kidnapping case—which haunted the squad, especially Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) —to trial, with a twist!
In the April 18 episode, “Combat Fatigue,” the squad is on edge. “It’s going to start off with a twist. You might be like, ‘Oh no, they put the end of the episode at the beginning,’” Peter Scanavino (who plays ADA Sonny Carisi) tells TV Insider. “But what you think is the end is just the beginning, and it just gets kind of weirder and weirder from there. And you really get to see the insane psychology behind George from Canada.”
This trial will challenge Carisi, especially when it comes to “going up against somebody that is unorthodox but still trying to do that within the rules of the criminal justice system,” teases the star.
As a sneak peek, which you can watch above, shows, Carisi and his wife Rollins (Kelli Giddish, returning in the May 2 episode) haven’t been able to see much of each other as a result. “She’s fine,” he tells Benson. “Maybe she’s just telling me she’s fine.”
For the most part, for Carisi, it’s about how this case is affecting those closest to him. As it does, “it affects him more and more,” Scanavino explains. “This case has come to symbolize so much for the squad and so much for him, and he wants nothing more than to get justice for Maddie and her family. And I think the stakes get elevated even more and more as that seems to be elusive and things don’t go as planned and the plea deal falls apart.”
Benson has really been affected by this case, but Carisi isn’t particularly worried about her with Maddie’s trial. Rather, “he’s always concerned about his friend who seems to be going through a lot and is unable to let this case go,” says Scanavino. “So I think he wants closure as much for her as for anybody else.”
This comes after SVU had a great conversation between Benson and Carisi in the April 11 episode after her son Noah (Ryan Buggle) did some digging and stumbled upon the last two names she’d want him to: William Lewis (who kidnapped and tortured Benson) and Johnny D (Noah’s biological father, who raped his mother).
“It’s been such an organic evolution,” Scanavino says of Carisi and Benson’s relationship over the years. While it started out with her mentoring him, now, they’re “more like peers that they can open up with each other and talk to each other, and I think they are each other’s emotional sounding board at the moment.”
Scanavino has also headed over to Organized Crime a few times so far, including once earlier this season—in which he butted heads with Detective Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni). “I like to go over there because it’s like SVU but not, it’s almost like a bizarro version of our set,” he shares. “I’m always up for the crossovers. They’re always fun to do and just kind of get a glimpse into these other worlds, and it’s cool to exist in them fictionally. It’s always great to hang with Chris and work with him.”
